PROVISION OF NON AUDIT SERVICE TO THE AUDIT CLIENT AND AUDITORS INDEPENDENCY AND AUDIT QUALITY

Abstract

The independence of an auditor and maintaining audit quality has not only been viewed as an ethical issue within the auditing professional bodies like the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), but also it is the cornerstone, which a successful audit is based. This paper examines whether provision of non-audit service to an audit client affects audit independency and quality. A questionnaire was used to collect data from seventy employees of ten private audit firms located in Addis Ababa. The responses obtained were analyzed using a quantitative and a qualitative approach with the help of SPSS. The researcher used purposive sampling technique, and the study had seventy-four total audit firms in the industry. In relation to the provision of non-audit service on auditor independency and audit quality the result shows that, the provision of NAS to audit clients was found to provide auditors with greater experience of the client’s industry and greater access to the client’s accounting system. Additionally, such an arrangement was considered to enhance audit quality, but simultaneously it was also believed that a separation of engagement teams, which carries out NAS from audit services, was desirable since auditors are perceived to have greater credibility when the demarcation is clear. The study recommended Accounting and Auditing board of Ethiopia should properly scrutinize the work of private audit firms concerning NAS, provide continuous trainings, and establish upgraded set of guideline based on the best practices.