A new approach of audit functions and principles

Abstract

In this paper, based on our experience and literature study, we propose a new set of audit functions to govern audit process effectiveness. We make a review of the existing literature to identify the audit principles with the aim to find connections between them and the newest audit functions. For each function we associate a group of principles in view of a better understanding of the role of audit process. Using a survey we tested the staff perceptions on the audit functions hierarchy, on audit principles importance and the links between audit principles and deontology and competence of the auditor. The audit functions established were assessed in two ways, by direct ranking on a three-point scale and indirectly, by evaluating the importance level of audit principles on a five-point scale. The results of the survey have been statistically investigated using Principal Component Analysis and illustrate that: the entrepreneurs are the ones who give the greatest importance to the audit principles in contrast with the opinion of management representatives and the process owners; the opinions of the participants in the survey concerning the level of importance given to the audit functions are different in the direct evaluation compared with the ones obtained in the indirect evaluation, accomplished by assessment of associated principles. The general assessment of the auditor's behavior highlighted the need to approach the audit principles in a percentage of 68.385%, from the ethical point of view, and 31.615% from the point of view of applying his competences.