AUDITING AND ASSURANCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

AUDITING AND ASSURANCE - Essay Example Legislation and the Auditing Profession in the UK According to the True and Fair Organisation (2012), the audit profession in the UK is monitored closely, and regulated tightly in accordance with strict professional standards and legislation. Also, companies and individuals who breach any of the rules, outlined by Legislation, will face strict penalties. The audit profession is under the Legislation provisions of the UK Government. The government controls the audit profession through Legislation such as the Companies Act on Audit, Inspection and Community Enterprise of 2004 and 2006 (True and Fair Organisation, 2012). There are also the Auditors Regulations of 2007, which control the activities of the Audit profession in the UK. This Legislation controls and monitors how audits are carried out in the UK. Legislation regulates the auditing profession in the UK, under the Companies Act 2006 (Collings, 2013, p. 237). Therefore, it is a requirement that professional accountants should at tain a senior statutory auditor position for them to be able to practice audit-related work in the UK. Further, UK Legislation requires that companies must have their annual financial statements audited. Auditors are required by Law to follow ISA (UK and Ireland) 700 in the formation of an auditor’s report on financial statements, as issued by the Financial Reporting Council. Common Law versus Auditing Profession in the UK The UK court system has taken responsibility of safeguarding shareholders, who are termed as third parties, from fraudulent activities of company directors, in collaboration with auditors and audit firms. Therefore, it acts as a quality-control mechanism for the auditing profession (Johnstone, Gramling, & Rittenberg, 2013, p.14). Common Law requires that auditors should observe care of professional advice to avoid violating the provisions of the civil law of negligence (Davies, 2011, p. 7). Auditors should also observe their duty of care diligently, while p erforming audit work because the UK Legal System is based on Common Law (Davies, 2011, p. 7). Company directors have the responsibility of preparing financial statements that should present a true and fair value of the organisation. Therefore, they contribute to the outcome of audit processes in one way or the other. The public may sue auditors and auditing firms under state statutes and Common Law for substandard audit work (Johnstone, Gramling, & Rittenberg, 2013, p. 14). The public, in this case, comprises of shareholders and other investors who may rely on the information provided by company directors and auditors to make financial decisions. In some circumstances, according to Common Law, disclosure may be justified in the public interest where there is no instance of noncompliance with Law regulations. For instance, where the public is being misled or the public’s interests are being damaged by auditors’ activities (FRC, 2013, p. 17). Therefore, Common Law contro ls the audit profession in the UK in that, it requires auditors to comply with the provisions of Common Law. Auditors and audit firms, who violate Common Law provisions, can be sued under Common Law by third parties. Regulatory and Professional Elements versus Auditing Profession in the UK Various independent Regulatory and Professional bodies have been created to control the auditing profession in the UK. The Regulatory and Pr