The Independence Issue and Audit of Portugal (EU) and Nordic Countries: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to speak about the issue of independence related to the audit. To reach this goal a diversified theoretical approach was developed starting with the corporate governance issue as a bunch of good practices and some literature review about frauds which were associated with the financial engineering needed to enable high dividends, but untrue, to the shareholders. These events defrauded the public opinion about the trust both in the auditor and in the companies and motivated the issue of lack of independence on behalf of the involvement of the top management, the auditors, and the accounting personnel. As an immediate consequence of these frauds, some ethical issues and guidelines for the reinforcement of the organization´s internal control arose. The factor of independence some questions were posed and particular stress on the actual supervising and inspecting functions of the Portuguese Stock Commission – CMVM - was considered. This entity CMVM is responsible for the supervision of the listed companies but at the same time it inspects the auditor´s work about the same companies belonging to its portfolio and it seems there is no great independence. It may be concluded that the independence issues in Norway, Sweden, Finland result in a sound defense of the shareholders thus, presenting financial statements with an accrued transparency and trustfulness. This is an added value in any business in spite of some relevant cultural/ethical differences that should be considered.