La profesión de auditoría desde la perspectiva de los actuales y futuros auditores

Abstract

This paper explores auditors’ professional values from the perspective of both, experienced auditors as well as new recruits that start their auditing career. To this end, the study focuses on core values of the audit profession, such as public interest, independence and professional behaviour, and it analyzes whether these values differ between practitioners and students from a postgraduate auditing course. The study is based on a survey to 122 Spanish auditors and 55 students from a postgraduate course in auditing. The results of this study have implications for professional organizations, audit firms, regulators and universities. Analyzing the development of auditors’ professional values throughout their career helps propose measures that foster ethical decision making in auditing.