An assessment model for external auditor’s reliance on internal auditor’s work in the light of structure and professional judgment practices : A case of Swedish Auditing firms

Abstract: This study is one of the first research works of its kind on the effectiveness of internal auditing work. This issue is being recently started to be explored as an area to be studied in detail. The reason behind this is the dependence of external auditors, due to codes, on internal auditors in terms of utilizing their work.The problem of internal work effectiveness has been studied by us from three angles as: (i) How the codes govern it, (ii) What influence structure and professional judgment has on it, and (iii) what factors external auditor considers for its assessment (competence, work performance, objectivity).The nature of the research clarified its data and reasoning requirement that depicted the study to be qualitative study. The research approaches namely deduction approach was used. The practical implication of the theoretical framework is explored through semi-structured interviews. Eight respondents were selected, two experienced and two assistants from Big four. Same was the case for local companies.The result of the study revealed that the auditing society is going towards more standardization. The use of professional judgment is being restricted and discouraged. This factor is of disturbance for most auditors regardless of local or Big Four companies. As said above, there is a need to monitor the current trend in auditing. Moreover, the present situation can lead to auditing becoming mechanical rather being a cognitive work. Conclusively, most of the experienced auditors do not consider auditing practices to become flawless with needlessly less usage of professional judgment. Objectivity factor was much stressed by experienced auditors in comparison to assistants.