Ethical Responsibility of Statutory Auditors in the Backdrop of Corporate Accounting Scandals: An Analysis of Respondents’ Perceptions

Abstract

This chapter presents a conceptual discussion of the ‘Ethical Responsibility of Statutory Auditors in the Backdrop of Corporate Accounting Scandals’. Respondents to the fieldwork discussed in Chap. 4 identified a number of key variables that impact on the ethical responsibility of statutory auditors. In this chapter, their opinions on those variables are analysed in order to draw some salient conclusions on this particular theme. Five major factors are identified which play an important role in impacting the ethical responsibility of statutory auditors, of which the ‘regulatory framework and recent events’ is believed to be the most significant. The theme of ethical responsibility is represented by four key distinct dimensions: (a) existing regulation and its inherent limitations, (b) behavioural improvements, (c) global and social approach, (d) education and training in ethics. In this chapter, the opinions of different occupational categories are critically evaluated. While professional accountants (chartered accountants and cost and management accounts) tend to place emphasis on ‘Practical Approaches of Education on Ethics to Professionals’, respondents from the academic fraternity, whether students or academics, give maximum importance to ‘Increasing focus on Ethics in Education’. Investors, who are the major impacted party of statutory auditors’ lack of ethical responsibility, emphasize punitive action and the inner values of statutory auditors. Corporate executives, finally, see the key governing factor of ethical responsibility as the regulatory framework and recent events.