Abstract
This study examines the corporate governance of large and medium-sized auditing firms in South Africa. Auditing firms serve the public interest; it is therefore important for these firms to disclose relevant corporate governance information to the public and to practice good corporate governance principles. Due to a string of corporate scandals in recent years, the audit profession has been criticised and has come under media scrutiny. This has undermined the reputation of the profession, with experts and the public questioning whether auditing firms have corporate governance structures in place, and whether they are taking public interest into consideration. This study contributes to the existing body of academic knowledge by pursuing the following six objectives: (1) examining the development of corporate governance in the UK, USA, Australia, the Netherlands, and more specifically, in South Africa; (2) conducting a comparison between the UK Audit Firm Governance Code and King IV to identify the similarities; (3) exploring how the lack of corporate governance has contributed to some of the worst financial corporate failures in the UK, USA, Australia, the Netherlands and South Africa to establish whether auditing firms contributed to these failures; (4) determining the current legal and governance structures in auditing firms as well as the challenges associated with implementing corporate governance principles within auditing firms; (5) identifying what corporate governance practices are disclosed by firms; (6) determining the current corporate governance practices in auditing firms; and obtaining the expert opinions of the CEOs of auditing firms about corporate governance in auditing firms...
Ph.D. (Auditing)