FAR Literature Review - Internal Control Quality and Audit Quality
This literature review highlights the role of internal controls in the audit process. We find that internal controls are of high economic importance for both the auditor and the client firm, as audit failure has severe consequences on both sides. In general, auditors can reduce the negative effects of weak internal controls on corporate financial reporting quality through increasing audit effort, which is associated with an increase in audit fees. However, increased effort does not fully preclude financial misstatements, i.e., a substantial risk of financial misstatement remains. While the reasons for this are not fully clear, the audit of internal controls is an extremely complex matter. In addition, auditors are subject to significant time and personnel constraints during the audit. This leads us to believe that the use of additional sources of private information on internal control quality could have strong positive consequences for both the auditor and, subsequently, the client firm. We suggest that financial analysts, their discussions during earnings conference calls and the information provided in their reports may be a valuable source of information for auditors. In particular, financial analysts’ assessment of fraud risk may help auditors to more efficiently and accurately assess internal control quality.
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