The Role of Ethical Standards in a “Big Four” Accounting Firm

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2021-01-11
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en
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After some big accounting scandals, such as the Enron case, happened, ethical standards became more important within the accounting profession. Proper ethical conduct is important within auditing because third parties rely on the assurance the auditor gives to the company’s financial statements. This research is focused on how ethical standards shape the auditor’s daily practices. In order to investigate this, a case study is conducted in a “Big Four” accounting firm in the Netherlands. The main sources of data are interviews conducted with auditors from different layers of the organization and accounting regulation such as the EY global code of conduct and the VGBA and ViO. From the research it appears that the companies code of conduct is not useful in practice as a guideline for behavior. The VGBA is more detailed and the five fundamental principles of ethics, where the VGBA consists of, appear to be important ethical standards used for daily practices in the audit profession. Although improvements are made, proper ethical conduct is still at risk when the deadline of an audit engagement approaches, further research is needed to investigate how this pressure on the auditor’s integrity can be taken away.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen
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