An analysis of multinational “audit failures”

Abstract

The shift toward multinational corporations has exposed the auditor to many risks not found on domestic audits, including foreign currency issues, international political risks, international economic risks, greater information asymmetry, and greater complexity. As the client base of the large accounting firms becomes more multinational, it is important to understand whether multinational risk factors are associated with “audit failures.” We identified only eight multinational audit failures (multinational client bankruptcy shortly after an unmodified audit opinion) from the period 1988–1992. An examination of these eight failures provided very little evidence that multinational risk factors played any role in the failures.