Title: The impact of Revised ISA 700: an international empirical comparison

Authors: Hamadi Fakhfakh, Mondher Fakhfakh

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, University of Sfax, Airport Road, 1088, Sfax 3018, Tunisia. ' Department of Management, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, University of Sfax, Airport Road, 1088, Sfax 3018, Tunisia

Abstract: This article presents a descriptive and analytical study of the audit reports harmonisation phenomenon initiated by supranational organisations, such as the IFAC and the European Union. These organisations played a very significant role in the modelling and the alignment of the practices of external revision made by the certified public accounts. The new revised standard on the auditor|s report proposes a new wording of the auditing opinion to the accounting professionals and the users of the financial statements. This international normative proposal is rather ambitious and aims at reducing the informational asymmetry and transaction costs, which impede communication between the independent auditors and the companies| stakeholders such as multinational firms, international accounting firms and investors.

Keywords: audit reports; harmonisation; Revised ISA 700; International Standard of Auditing; stakeholders; auditing information systems; homogenisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2010.031612

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2010 Vol.6 No.2/3, pp.274 - 326

Published online: 15 Feb 2010 *

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