Auditing Profession in Peril: Strategic Quality Assurance Measures as the Way Forward in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52962/ipjaf.2022.6.1.131Keywords:
Auditors, Risk, Audit Profession, Liability Minimization, Accounting InformationAbstract
Corporate collapses, business failures and fraudulent financial reporting scandals have led to a very turbulent time, resulting in a credibility crisis for the auditing profession as a whole. There is an increasing demand on auditors by regulators, third parties, and users of their services in terms of their responsibilities and duties to perform. Using the secondary data research approach, this paper examines the reasons why auditing is proving risky and expensive. It finds out that audits have evolved from routine checklists to a vital part of the corporate governance process of companies and that the auditing profession must be actively dynamic and proactive in order to surmount modern day challenges which have drastically impacted the profession. It concludes that unless the profession, the regulators, and users of the services of auditors come together to review the profession, it might be difficult to source value adding auditors in the future. It recommends, amongst others, that versatile multi-disciplinary knowledge, training, experience, continuous learning process, and urgent engagement of experts in Information and Communications Technology, Fraud, Forensic Accounting, and Statistics, will all be needed for success.
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