Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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    Exploration of audit quality disclosures contained in the transparency reports of audit firms
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Raphadu, Mpya Aaron; Buchling, Michael
    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the disclosure practices of audit firms issued in the transparency reports. This study uses audit quality standards to assess how disclosures regarding audit quality have been included in the audit transparency reports. Methodology: This study analysed the publicly available transparency reports of the big 4 audit firms and medium audit firms. These reports were analysed following an interpretive approach to determining the extent of disclosure on audit quality from 2016 to 2020. This study also considered the change in disclosure on audit quality over these five years. A disclosure checklist has been developed using professional literature. Content analysis has been used to codify the disclosed information with disclosures being scored using an ordinal scale. Descriptive statistics have been used to analyse and graphically present the data. Findings: The findings suggest inconsistencies in the preparation of the transparency reports. The number of disclosures did not increase significantly from 2016 to 2020, even though there was increased public scrutiny of the audit firms in the wake of audit failures over the same period. Additionally, the big 4 audit firms provided more disclosures compared to medium-tier firms. Research limitations: The research is limited to the publicly available transparency reports and, therefore, the findings are not representative of all assurance providers in the South African market Practical implications: The findings can be used to aid audit regulators in understanding inconsistencies in audit firm transparency reports to develop assurance reporting frameworks. Additionally, the findings can inform regulators of these reporting issues about audit quality indicators. Value: This study complements the current research by providing insight into audit firms' disclosure practices in audit transparency reports. Current research has been focussed on corporate governance-specific disclosures
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    Change of audit firms and whether it enhances independence
    (2018) Govender, Keshika
    This paper explores the change in auditors and whether it enhances auditor independence and credibility of financial statements. In recent years due to financial crises and accounting scandals, the rotation of a company’s auditors, after long standing relationships, have come into the limelight. The independence of auditors has come into question and the credibility of financial statements. Interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of how an audit client, referred to in this report as the Company, changed its auditors. The interviews gained an understanding of how the Company: • Made the decision to change and appoint new auditors • Determined whether this change enhanced independence and • Created processes in order to manage the changeover. The Company carrying out the change was analysed in order to understand the processes which were put in place to manage the change. Understanding the criteria and skills required from the new auditor was also investigated. The study finds that the process of appointing and transitioning to new auditors is a comprehensive and rigorous task. This process requires proper and careful planning, risk identification and process and project management. Throughout the process, the Company met with business its operations and provided feedback to members of the boards to ensure gaps were filled and targets and milestones were met. The onboarding of the new auditors required engagement with both the auditors and different functions and businesses of the Company. The success of this project required intense planning and incredible momentum, which the study shows, over the period of time in which the change took place. It required integration with all businesses of the Company and the group finance function.