Open AccessAuditors’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities: The impact of exposure to litigation risk
Author(s) -
Ahmed Abdullah Saad Al-Dhubaibi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
accounting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.175
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 2369-7407
pISSN - 2369-7393
DOI - 10.5267/j.ac.2021.3.021
Subject(s) - audit , business , accounting , perception , position (finance) , certification , litigation risk analysis , external auditor , audit risk , big four , risk perception , internal audit , finance , psychology , political science , law , neuroscience
The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of auditors regarding their responsibilities and potential liabilities to third parties in the case of failure to detect fraud/material misstatements and report the findings to the appropriate party. The study proposes that auditors’ perception of their own responsibilities will depend on the level of litigation threat expected by the auditor based on his or her position in the audit firm. The questionnaire was sent to the big 4 audit firms, the global audit firms other than the big 4, and to 189 different sized local audit firms registered with the Saudi Organization of Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA). The findings of this study revealed significant variations among auditors with regards to their perceptions of their own responsibilities and liabilities to financial statements’ users affected by their expected level of exposure to litigation risk.