A Proposed Approach to Quality Control of the Professional Performance of Audit Offices in Saudi Arabia: An Empirical Study

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Accounting Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration Helwan University Helwan Egypt

Abstract

This research aims to propose an approach to control of the quality of professional performance of audit firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By conducting both theoretical and field studies, the research achieved the following results: Most of audit firms in the Kingdom do not comply with most of the policies and procedures related to the elements of the International Standard on Quality Control  (ISQC) 1 .Most of the elements of (ISQC) are not suitable for the nature of the vast majority of audit firms in the Kingdom, This is because the vast majority of audit offices in the Kingdom are small individual firms with limited capabilities and resources that are not commensurate with the requirements of the standard, while the majority of the elements of the standard are oriented to large audit firms with considerable material resources and a large number of partners, managers and professionals personnel, It represents a small percentage of the total audit firms in the Kingdom.  Insufficient control technique applied by the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) to review the quality of the performance of audit firms in the Kingdom. There is a need to apply a control technique to review audit firms that audit financial institutions and listed companies under the supervision of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia. This technique is as follows: First, a register to record audit firms and auditors authorized to audit financial institutions and listed companies should be established in the CMA, Then to establish a CMA subsidiary unit to control and review the quality of the work of auditors of financial institutions and listed companies, and that unit is composed of representatives from concerned governmental bodies and fulltime reviewers with expertise in accounting and auditing. By applying the proposed technique, the quality of the professional performance of audit firms will be increased, and thus increases the public's confidence in the financial reports in particular and in the profession of accounting and auditing in general. 

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