 Revisiting the regulation of auditor independence: Spanish evidence on different perceptionsMaria A. GarcÃa-Benau and Ana Zorio International Journal of Critical Accounting, 2012, vol. 4, issue 5/6, 511-541 Abstract: Following the dramatic financial scandals at the turn of the millennium, the financial system reporting framework has changed considerably to restore confidence among investors. In 2002, Spain was one of the pioneer EU member countries to regulate audit quality and protect auditor independence. In the specific setting of Spain, the objective of this research is to obtain evidence that can contribute to the debate on whether there is a need for regulation in this field. In this sense, we find evidence on the existence of an expectations gap between two groups of agents affected by the important changes that the 2002 rules on independence and audit quality imposed on auditors, i.e., the auditors themselves and the academics who educate future auditors. Our results point out that there is an expectations gap both in terms of independence in fact and in appearance for certain items under study, as well as in the area of improvement in audit quality or in the opinions on how these regulatory changes are expected to affect auditors' activities. Keywords: audit quality; auditor independence; regulation; Spain; audit expectations; EU audits; European Union; financial reporting. (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijcrac:v:4:y:2012:i:5/6:p:511-541 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Critical Accounting from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.