Quels impacts les scandales financiers ont-ils eu sur l'audit ? Analyse de l'évolution des réglementations

Abstract

In a context in which many scandals happened in early 2000’s, followed by a financial and economic crisis a few years after; the public lost their confidence in the audit profession. So the environment and the legislative framework had to evolve. In this thesis entitled: “Which impacts have the financial scandals had on audit? Evolution analysis of the regulations”, a brief description of some major scandals is provided. Then, the evolution of audit history is traced. Afterwards, the new reforms and rules are analyzed and we tried to set up a link between the cases and the laws. First of all, the reactions came from the United States and their Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Later, the consequences and the evolution of the framework appeared in Europe with the Reform in 2014. After an analysis of the environment, some questions were asked. Has the audit quality improved with the new laws? Do the financial scandals have a direct effect on the changes in regulation? Is the situation identical and comparable in the USA and in Europe? All these questions and others are discussed in this paper. On the one hand, a literary review has been made and on the other hand, a panel of partners and regulators participated in the qualitative analysis. Altogether we tried to formulate an answer to the initial question. It was not so easy to answer and a lot of interrogations still remain. However, based on this work, it can be concluded that these aforementioned scandals have some impacts on the legislative framework; even if they are not always immediate. In addition, the quality of audit is a key element and a main impact; it has been increasing over time. The independence and transparency are also discussed and they are closely linked to the previous concept. Nevertheless, it is also important to mention the unintended effects of the law and the consequences on the audit profession. This conclusion does not mean that no more work has to be performed. This research leads to many limitations and further analyses need to be done to complete this topic. Moreover, the European Reform of 2014 is too new and all the aspects and effects could not be analyzed for the moment.