The Impact of Consulting Services on an Auditor’s Independence – A Survey Study on Audit Firms in Lebanon
Abstract
As a result of the knowledge and experience they have, in addition to auditing financial statements for enterprises, auditors sometimes provide consulting services (non-audit services). Some of these services might impair the auditors’ independence with regard to the enterprises.
This study aims to identify the role of Lebanese audit firms in providing such consulting services and their impact on the Lebanese auditors’ code of professional conduct. A well-structured questionnaire of three main domains was used to collect data. The samples were all members of Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants. The results of the study showed difference of statistical significance within the opinions of the study samples about the impact of consulting services on auditor independence. The study includes a number of recommendations mainly:
- The Ministry of Finance and the Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants must augment legislations related to violations and punishments against Lebanese audit firms which fail to comply with their professional duties upon providing consulting services.
- The Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants should put forth audit control to organize the actual practice of supplying consulting services by audit firms.
- Using the method of team auditing instead of individual auditing leads to enhancing auditor independence.
- Legislation related to commerce should include some articles which organize the process of changing the auditor, where essential reasons should be presented for a change. In addition, a change should not be allowed during the financial year which the auditor is auditing to protect and enhance the auditor’s independence.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
-
The authors retain the copyright and grant the right to publish in the magazine for the first time with the transfer of the commercial right to Tishreen University Journal of Research and Scientific Studies - Economic and Legal Sciences
Under a CC BY- NC-SA 04 license that allows others to share the work with of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can use a copy of their articles in their scientific activity, and on their scientific websites, provided that the place of publication is indicted in Tishreen University Journal of Research and Scientific Studies - Economic and Legal Sciences . The Readers have the right to send, print and subscribe to the initial version of the article, and the title of Tishreen University Journal of Research and Scientific Studies - Economic and Legal Sciences Publisher
-
journal uses a CC BY-NC-SA license which mean
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
-
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
-
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
