审计期望差距课件

1、A Qualitative Analysis of the Audit Expectations Gap in the Public Sector of BangladeshRiazur Chowdhury John Innes 1研究回顾2审计期望差距（ Audit Expectations Gap ）西方研究成果回顾： 期望差距一词最早出现在1974年Liggio(The Expectations Gap :The Accountants Legal Waterloo) ,this gap by Liggio (p.29)stated that .this expectation is a

2、ided and abetted by the profession . 美国1974年设立了审计人员责任委员会(其委员长是科恩，所以也称科恩委员会Cohen Commission ) ,并在1978年的报告中提出了“期望差距”的概念：“公众对审计的期望或需要与审计人员本身能够被并且应该被合理期望完成的审计任务之间存在着期望差距”（the gap between what the public expects or needs and what auditors can and should reasonably expect to accomplish . ）并认为，差距存在的责任主要不在财

3、务报表使用者，而主要在于审计3准则的明了化和严密化还不够，审计人员所采取的审计方法的有效性还不够，审计人员的职业反应和改进的速度没有跟上美国经济发展的步伐。 后来，到了80年代后半期，期望差距继续存在并有了发展。这个时期，大公司破产，官员的贪污、舞弊以至大规模的行贿事件履有发生。这些事件通过新闻媒介广为报道。于是人们就产生一个疑问，既然财务信息通过审计人员审计为什么没有发现问题?他们是否认认真真地进行了审计? 美国会计师公会(American Institute of CPAs，AICPA)、美国会计学会(America Accounting Association，AAA)、财务主管协会(F

4、inancial Executive Institute，FEI)、内部稽核协会(Institute of Internal Auditors，IIA)以及管理会计人员协会(Institute of Management Accountants，IMA)等5个机构，遂于1985年赞助成立了 “不实财务报告全国委员会”(The National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting)。委员会的委员长是JC垂得威先生(James C Treadway)，故也称垂得威委员会。4 该委员会认为，首先对财务报表负责的应是企业。尽管如此，注册会计师在财务

5、报告过程中起着非常重要的作用。财务报表使用者期望审计人员发挥专门的能力、诚实性、独立性以及客观性干预财务报表过程。 除此之外，财务报表使用者不管有意还是无意，都期望审计人员追究和发现重大的虚假记载，借以使企图蒙骗大众的财务报表不能发表。 虽然，公众和财务报表使用者对审计的期望很高，但审计却有其自身固有的界限很难打破。在审计中，审计人员不能对财务报表有无重要的不实作出绝对的完全的保证。另外，审计人员即使按审计准则的要求来实施审计，有时也不能保证完全发现错误。 从审计人员方面来说，要对执业中实际存在的缺陷认认真真地加以改进，提高执业质量，更好地发挥作用；从公众和财务报表使用者来说，由于种种客观因素

6、的存在，对审计人员的要求应该适当、合理，不应有过高的不切实际的要求。双方应加强沟通，这样才能消除差距。 5 之后， 美国审计准则委员会(ASB)于1988年连续公布了从第53-61号9份说明书(通称“期望差距审计准则”）这些准则主要包括界定审计人员对发现错误与舞弊的责任、如何更有效地执行审计以及如何将审计结果做到有效的沟通等方面。例如:第58号准则要求审计人员在审计报告上清楚地说明以下事项: 财务报表的责任在管理当局; 审计人员只是对财务报表是否有重大误述提供合理保证;只针对财务报表中所有重大方面提出意见。 为继续缩小期望差.美国审计准则委员会于1997年还颁布了第82号准则在财务报告审计中对

7、舞弊的考虑取代了第53号准则审计人员对发现和报告错误及不合规行为的责任一方面给审计人员提供了揭示舞弊的明确的指南，同时它也是审计职业界与公众进行的一次有效沟通。6 美国自2001年10月出现了安然会计造假案之后2002年又相继出现了施乐世通等一系列重大会计造假事件并导致安达信会计师事务所退出审计市场。这一系列事件沉重地打击了投资者的信心，无疑使得审计期望差距进一步拉大。为针对这一系列会计丑闻美国国会参众两院迅速行动起来颁布了一系列的保护投资者规范会计师行业监管和公司治理的法律其中最主要的是2002公众公司会计改革和投资者保护法(英文简称Sarbanes一Oxley Act，以下简称萨班斯奥克斯

8、莱法案)。 这一举措也可视为，政府相关部门为了挽回公众对审计职业的信心，帮助缩小审计期望差距所作出的努力。7 1988年，麦克唐纳委员会提交了一份研究报告，以图的形式描述了期望差距的构成要素以及解决的途径，如图1所示。 关于如何合理消除期望差距，不仅美国关心这个问题，其他很多国家都在研究这个问题。 1986年加拿大特许会计师协会(CICA)专门设立一个委员会，称为麦克唐纳委员会(Mcdcdon-ald Commission Lommission)， 其正式名称为审计公众期望研究委员会，主要调查公众对审计的期望，其中的大多数成员都不是注册会计师。他们研究发现，许多证据表明，公众对审计人员的期望和

9、审计人员业绩的认识之间确实存在差距。89 此外，英国的英格兰和威尔士特许会计师协会(ICAEW)于1987年为研究“审计的未来”而成立了专门团体(Working Body)，研究公众对审计作用的想法与审计人员的看法之间存在的差距。此外，澳大利亚特许会计师协会会长于1987年为回应公众对审计人员作用的关心，要求专家研究如何消除期望差距的方法。其他与审计期望差距有关的研究成果： Lee,T.1970(The Nature of Auditing and its objectives),(1993)(Corporate Audit Theory) ; Holt.G and Moizer,1990(T

10、he Meaning of Audit);Steen,1990(Audits and AuditorsWhat the Public Thinks);Porter,1991(Narrowing the Audit Expectations Performance Gap);Hatherly etal.,1991(An Expanded Audit ReportAn ExperimentalInvestigation );Humphrey（汉弗莱） etal.,1992(The Audit ExpectationsGap in the United Kingdom); Sikka etal.,1

11、992(Eliminating theExpectations Gap?); Moizer etal.,1996(Audit of Public Enterprises). 10 Humphrey（汉弗莱）1992（p.7)中把审计期望差距视为：“这种差距视为一种对感觉的描述，即审计人员的 表现在一定程度上与审计人员将要实现其利益的人们的信念和要求的不一致”（“viewed the gap as are presentation of the feeling that the auditors are performing in a manner at variance with the be

12、liefs and desires of those for whose benefit the audit is being carried out.” ）并且认为审计期望差应包括审计人员的专业胜任能力、 审计人员的查错责任、审计独立性等要素；另外，还发现造成审计人员缺乏专业胜任能力的原因主要有两个:成本制约，成本的问题会导致审计外勤工作时间变少，同时也可能促使事务所使用经验欠缺、专业能力不足和资格不够的审计人员来从事大量的日常审计工作;经济业务的日益复杂，而其复杂程度的增加速度，己经远远超出了审计技术发展的速度，在这种情况卜，审计活动处于一个非常复杂的环境中，使得大多数审计人员不知所措。

13、斯卡(P. Sikka)等 （1992）人提出:“当人们认为审计人员没有很好地履行他们的职责，或对职责界定的充分性提出质疑时，期望差距就产生。” 波特(Porter,1993)建议把审计期望差划分为两个部分:合理性差距和执行差距。 合理性差距是指公众对审计人员的期望超过了审计人员实际能够被期望的程度；并认为，产生的原因是审计人员社会作用界定不清和审计成本与效益难以计量。 执行差距存在于审计人员被合理期望的行为和他们认为应当执行的行为之间。这种差距的存在，一方面是源于准则的不足，另一方面是由于审计人员在审计人员在审计过程缺乏独立性或缺乏专业胜任能力。11我国审计期望差距的研究成果： 谢荣(199

14、4）认为：“审计能力是相对有限的，当审计所能完成任务的能力不能达到社会的全部期望时，或者说当社会与职业界对于审计的内容和要求不一致时，就出现了期望差距，这是双方在目标一致性上所存在的差异。” 毕秀玲(1999)“期望差距是社会公众对审计的期望或社会对审计的要求与职业界的观点和实际行为作用之间的距离。” 王德升(1997)“对于审计人员的作用和责任的认识方面，审计人员与公众和财务报表使用者之间存在差距，即公众对审计的期望大大超过审计人员对自身执业的认识。”刘力云(1999)“所谓期望差距就是指审计职业界对本身的认识与社会公众对审计计职业界的认识上的差距。” 胡继荣(2001)在论审计期望差距的构

15、成要素一文中根据我国的现实情况对麦氏的期望差距构成要素图进行了 修正，将图中“现在的准则”变为了“现在可能的准则”，将“可能的准则”，变为了“现在的准则”。卢相君（2003）在证券市场独立审计期望差研究中指出“中国证券市场的审计期望差问题更多的是注册会计师未保持独立性引起的，是不可容忍的偏差”。 12 另外，我国虽然没有制定专门的“期望差距准则”.但在颁布的独立审计准则中也包括了一些这方而的内容(先是散见于1996年实施的第一批准则中.主要是对会计责任与审计责任作了明确的界定。后来足1997年实施的独立审计准则第8号一错误与舞弊、独立审计准则第11号分析性复核.将发现并报告错误与舞弊的责任作了

16、专门的规范。再后是1999年实施的持续经营、违反法规行为、与己审会计报表一同披露的其他信息、了解被审计单位情况、管理当局声明、与管理当局沟通准则，使我国在缩小期望差距方面取得了一定的成绩。 在我国2006年新出台的审计准则中所实施的，审计准则第1151号-与治理层的沟通，审计准则第1211号-了解被审计单位及其环境并评估重大错报风险，审计准则第1341号-管理层声明等都是为进一步缩小审计期望差距所做的努力。 13审计期望差距所造成的影响1.成为审计“信任危机”产生的重要原因之一 随着上市公司的不断增加，注册会计师地位和作用也在不断提高，人们在了解注册会计师作用的同时，对注册会计师责任的了解也在

17、逐渐加深。因此，诉讼注册会计师的案件也时有发生。公众对审计能给予其百分之百的保障的期望与实际存在的大量错报漏报之间的巨大落差，使得公众开始对以往的审计结果均表示怀疑，甚至认为审计只不过是一种表面形式，审计的“信任危机”也就不可避免的产生了。2.使审计人员承担了不必要的法律责任 近几十年来由于企业经营的失败或是因管理当局舞弊造成破产倒闭的事件剧增，投资者和贷款人都因此蒙受了很大损失，由于投资者很难从这些公司获得任何的赔偿，因而便将会计师事务所作为分担其损失的对象，指控注册会计师未能及时揭示或报告这些问题并要求其赔偿有关的损失的案件不断增加，而法律界迫于社会公众的压力在法律制定方面也逐步倾向于增加

18、注册会计师在这方面的法律责任，由于法律的制定总是以满足社会公众的期望为出发点的，这就使审计人员必须对原本并不属于他们的责任承担法律后果。例如，“合理保证”与期望”完全保证”之间的冲突 。 从而使会计师侵权民事责任问题似乎陷入了两难困境：要么会计师事务所因民事责任过大而破产，或者因无法承受过高的职业风险而拒绝提供审计服务；要么会计师事务所为最大限度地减少审计和法律风险而被迫进行“详细审计”，从而大幅提高审计成本并将高昂的审计成本最终转移给股东或公众投资者14背景简介About the Author：Dr Riazur Rahman Chowdhury is an Associate Profes

19、sor in the Department of Accounting, Dhaka（达卡）University. He passed his S.S.C and H.S.C examinations from Government Laboratory High School, Dhaka, and Dhaka College respectively securing merit positions in both examinations. He secured First Class in both B. Com. ( Honours) and M .Com. examinations

20、 in the Department of Accounting, Dhaka University and became a Lecturer of the department in 1992.Dr.Chowd-hury obtained his Ph.D from the University of Dundee, 15UK in 1996 under the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme .His area of research was Audit Expectations Gap in the Public Sector of Banglad

21、esh. Dr. Chowdhury carried out qualitativeanalysis of various aspects of the State audit in Bangladesh and proved for the first time the existence of Expectations Gap between the CAGauditors and the principal recipients of the CAG s audit reports, namely The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Inter

22、national FundingAgencies (IFAs). Dr Chowdhury has published extensively in local and International academic and professional journals. He has participated in seminars as presenter and discussant in Bangladesh and abroad. He has alsoContributed to a DCCI commissioned Report on Tax Anomalies（异常）in Ban

23、gladesh. His diversified research Areas include Auditing, Accounting, Reporting, and Strategic Management, mainly in the context of public Sector with special emphasis on Accountability and Public Interest protection. His lecture specialization include areas such as Audit Theory,Organisational Behav

24、iour Strategic Management, Corporate Reporting, and Human Resource Management.16Dundee（邓迪大学 ）-University of Dundee 大学简介邓迪大学的前身是成立于1881年的邓迪大学学院。从生命科学领域到设计领域在国际上都久享盛誉。邓迪大学的师生比率、毕业生就业率以及学生人均拥有图书量在苏格兰各大学中位列第一，在全英大学中也居前五位。该校现有在校生9,600人，其中82%为本科生，10%的学生来自欧洲及世界各地，是一个关系融洽友好的国际大家庭。邓迪大学坐落于苏格兰的四大主要城市之一邓迪市的市中心。

25、邓迪大学的办学宗旨是使每一名学生在邓迪拓展其未来。在由苏格兰大学拨款委员会机构（苏格兰高等教育拨款委员会）开展的教学评估活动中。邓迪大学2/3的系科被评为“优秀”或“极为满意”。 约翰莫尼斯(John Innes) 是邓迪大学(University of Dundee)管理会计学名誉退休教授17本文的结构框架1.主要内容2.关键词3.摘要4.研究设计5.调查结果（6个方面）6.导致审计期望差距产生的原因：既适用于公共部门也适用于私营企业（5个方面）7.导致审计期望差距产生的原因：仅适用于公共部门即公共部门特有的原因（7个方面）8.进一步研究建议9.结论18Main idea This inte

26、rview-based research is exploratory in nature and Seeks to determine whether or not an audit expectations gap exists in the public sector of Bangladesh .Various audit conce -pts are employed to test whether the perceptions of the audito -rs in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) a

27、re the same as the perceptions of the audit report users . The interviewees responses revealed important differences between the CAG auditors and the audit report users in such important areas as auditor accountability, auditor independence ,auditor competence ,truth and fairness of the reported inf

28、ormation and the role of the performance audit. A comparison is undertaken of the possible causes of the audit expectations gaps in both the private and public sectors. A number of these causes are common for both the private and public sectors but some are relevant only to the public sector audit e

29、xpectations gap.19Key words audit expectations gap; public sector ; Bangladesh; Accountability(受托经济责任) ; audit concepts (审计概念); Audit reportsComptroller and Auditor General(CAG)（主计长兼审计长公署或总检查长和总审计长公署）;Public Accounts Committee (PAC);（政府账目委员会）International funding agencies (IFA);20Bangladesh (The Peo

30、ples Republic of Bangladesh ) Bangladesh has a population well in excess of 120 million . After independence in December 1971,Bangladesh started with a Parliamentary form of rule of government but soon after switched to a Presidential form which continued for 15 years. Since August 1991,Bangladeshha

31、s again adopted a Parliamentary form of government. 21Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) The CAG office is empowered by the Parliamentary to audit all public enterprises. The CAG audit is an audit of economy and efficiency, seeking to discover avoidable delays ,wasteful expenditure ,misuse or unde

32、r use of assets and failures to meet operational targets (Mazid, 1985)(p.11).The CAG audit report is based on an examin -ation conducted by the CAG auditors of both financial and operational results. The CAG audit function has to serve two main purposes. Firstly, the CAG auditors are required to go

33、beyond the basic financial audit to investigate transgressions of statutory provisions ,rules or orders leading, or likely to lead ,to loss of public resources. Secondly, the CAG auditors have to inform the PAC how far each public sector enterprise has complied with its expressed views in matters of

34、 operations objectives and, in particular how far funds were properly spent. 22Public Accounts Committee Article 131 of the of the Parliamentary Peoples Republic of Bangladesh states that the Public Accounts of the Republic shall be kept in such a form and in such a manner as the Auditor General may

35、, with the approval of the President,prescr -ibe. Under Article 132 of the Constitution, comments of the CAG on public enterprises are to be submitted to the President for each fiscal year to lay before Parliament. So ,the PAC of the Parliamentary has the responsibility for reviewing the CAG reports

36、.23International funding agencies (IFA) In Bangladesh,83%of the annual development programme expenditure relates to the public sector However, the economy of Bangladesh is heavily Dependent on foreign assistance, with 64%of the AnnualDevelopment Programme provided by the IFAs (Govern-ment of Peoples

37、 Republic of Bangladesh,1994)(p.16).These IFAs require an audit report on the funds provided by them to satisfy themselves that these funds have beenspent as agreed. 24SUMMARY In contrast to the amount of research into the audit expectations gap in the private sector, there is relatively little rese

38、arch into whether or not an audit expectations gap exists in the public sector. Similarly, almost all the research into the audit expectations gap has been conducted in developed countries .This research project explored whether or not there was an audit expectations gap in the public sector of Bang

39、ladesh between the auditors in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the users of their reports .Two groups of users were selected ,namely the MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament and the representatives of the international funding agencies (IFAs) which pro

40、vided substantial financ -e for Bangladesh.25Research Design For the purpose of this research ,the following six audit concepts ,Namely auditor accountability, auditor independence ,auditor Compete-nce, audit materiality and audit evidence, true and fair view ,performa-nce audit, have been selected

41、to test whether the perceptions of the CAG auditors are similar to the perceptions of the audit report users. These audit concepts have been selected from the literature and previo-us empirical studies (Mautz andSharaf,1961;Normanton,1966;Schandl,1978;Hatherly,1980;Brown et al.,1982;Howladar and Par

42、ry,1984;CCAF,1987;Gray etal.,1987;Gwilliam,1987;Flint,1988;Jones and Bates,1990;Lee,1993; Bowerm-an,1994).all the concepts relate also to private sector auditing and have been adapted, where necessary ,for the public sector audit for the purpose of this study. As a first step, a qualitative analysis

43、 was conducted using a semi-structur-ed interview schedule that was developed based on the above audit concepts. 26 This interview schedule was refined following pilot interviews both inthe UK and in Bangladesh .Face-to-face interviews were selected as the main research method rather than a formal q

44、uestionnaire because of the respondents lack of familiarity with the questionnaire approach to research. Furthermore ,a semi-structured interview approach was adopted because this research was exploratory in nature and, if anAudit expectations gap was identified ,a primary objective of this study wa

45、s to try to determine the possible causes of any such gap. Semi-structured interviews allowed the reasons for any such gaps to be explored. The interviewees were 17 CAG auditors,all 15 members of the PAC of Parliament and nine senior representatives from five IFAs who were closely involved in fundin

46、g public sector operations in Bangladesh. Each interview lasted for23 h, was tape recorded and transcribed .27Results(1)Auditor accountabilityThe auditors of the CAGs view The context of the audit reports; The accountability of the CAG auditors is reporting to Parliament and the IFAs . On the issue

47、offulfilling users information requirements, the CAG auditors responded by saying that at present they were providing information of mainly a financial and compliance nature .However ,one senior CAG official commented that the auditors themselves were unsure of the types of information that could be

48、 used by the users for meaningful decision making because there were no formal channels of communication with the user groups. The format of audit reports; And There were mixed responses from the CAG auditors on the adequacy of the format of audit reports with the majority agreeing that providing mo

49、re information on objectives ,policies and performance of the entities being audited could make the reports more effective. The field auditors in the CAG office commented that the set format often prevented them from examining areas not covered by the format. 28 Public interest; On the important iss

50、ue of stewardship of resources through the CAG audit function ,the auditors claimed that they were aware of their own shortcomings of lack of skilled manpower, limited time ,limited audit mandate, limited facilities and excessive workload on a few audit directorates . However, The CAG auditors expre

51、ssed their firm belief that through their efforts the public interest was generally protected. They argued that there had been very little form-al criticism on any aspect of their performance. Public sector managerss attitude; Some auditors suggested that the inactivity of the PAC was an important r

52、eason for public sectormanagers not taking the CAG audit process sufficiently seriously.29The users view The context of the audit reports; The users, on the other hand, were more interested in management performance related information, which was currently not provided in the CAG reports .Also, the

53、governing policies of the enterprises being audited and the objectives pursued by these organisations were not clear from the information provided. The representatives of the IFAs were more critical than the PAC members in this respect. The IFA representatives wished further information for their as

54、sessment, such as information on fund utilization, policy guide lines ,objectives pursued ,management structure of the entities and systems of accountability ,which were not provided in the existing audit reports . The users also thought that the CAG auditors lack of knowle-dge resulted in reports b

55、eing too detailed with a concentration onrelatively unimportant points that made the reports lose much of their value . （不一致） The format of audit reports ;Both user groups also expressed their dissatisfaction with the existing format of the audit report and complain-ed that audit reports were too lo

56、ng and filled with irrelevant and insignificant routine findings. The IFA representatives were more critical of the inadequacy of the report format than were the PAC members .30The IFA representatives viewed the format as ambiguous and pointedout the lack of initiative on the part of the CAG auditor

57、s to restructure it according to the needs of the users .They expressed strong criticism that the audit report format did not provide information about the time to completion and cost of Projects that they funded. (一致) Public interest; The two user groups were generally of the opinion that the publi

58、c interest was not fully protected by the current public sector audit becau -se of the limited scope of investigations and the low quality of the CAG audit. The users also considered that the auditors could not ensure that public resourc-es were used in an appropriate fashion because they did not au

59、dit and report on all aspects of public sector opations. （不一致） Public sector managerss attitude; The users believed that the CAG auditors were not given the necessary attention by the management or the civil servants who were indifferent towards audit as a control mechanism. （一致）31 Audit reports del

60、ay; Other points highlighted by the users were long delays in reporting to the PAC (often a delay of several years), Commenting on the delay in issuing CAG audit reports ,the representat-ive of one IFA commented :a manager who had instituted a set of practices not beneficial to the entity will go on