Measures to ensure the independence of auditors

The article discusses the philosophical, ethical, and legal aspects of the independence of auditors. Auditor independence is an important condition for their objectivity. In Russia, the credibility of an audit as an economic institution has been severely undermined. The conclusions of audits as expert documents for users of financial reports are not authoritative sources of information. In reality, an audit looks like an element of investment marketing; a PR campaign to stimulate public interest in the audited person by forming favorable public opinion of them about their transparent business reputation, openness, and publicity. The audit as a form of financial control as it exists in Russia today is a borrowed and forced element, superimposed on the existing traditional system of control. Russia has traditionally been developed by external state control, in addition to functioning departmental and internal controls. That has never happened in foreign countries, which initially followed the course of liberal democracy, of the free market, in which the function of the state was limited only to protecting property rights. Therefore, in countries with a market economy, historically control existed only in the form of an audit carried out also by entrepreneurs and corporations specializing in the area of financial control. The audit as an alternative to the preexisting traditional forms of control found itself in a peculiar form in contemporary Russia. By nature an audit is a network tool to completely monitor the activities of key players of national economies in the context of globalization, and therefore, the main players in the auditing market are the “big four auditing firms”. In the article improving Russian auditing legislation is proposed. The author believes that the audit must be of a strictly voluntary character as a democratic tool that generates investment interest, in part demonstrating the openness and transparency of conducting business. The sphere of influence of an audit should be limited to purely entrepreneurial private entities vying for publicity, instead of involving a sovereign democracy’s key institutions that form the basis of national security, the economy as a whole, and individual industries and regions. In the contemporary economic and political world, it is imperative to clearly define the factual status of an audit as an independent institution of financial control. The question is raised about the absence of direct financial independence for auditors from customers of the audit of financial statements. The article discusses alternative proposals for the mediatory function of audit organizations, or for self-regulatory organizations (SRO) of auditors in the payment of services from experts or auditors that conduct mandatory audits of financial records, related to, for example, public financial institutions. Suggestions are given in the article for possible additional tools for self-regulatory auditing organizations that allow the office to monitor the activities of the audit organization and control of the quality of their services. Statistical indicators for the Russian audit market in 2012 and 2013 are also given.

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