THE IMPACT OF ETHICS ON QUALITY AUDIT RESULTS

As organizations have become more complex and sophisticated to meet future demands, the reliance on audit results as a ground for proper decision-making is amplified. It is usually believed that ordinary moral sensibility, along with good example of more experienced colleagues, will be sufficient to safeguard ethical side of the business. However, the evaluation on audit quality is a rather difficult to conduct because researchers are not in position to monitor in vivo how an audit is carried out. Therefore, the influence of audit team competence becomes crucial to judge about quality audit results. Auditor technical skills are important and they can be measured and tracked. On the other hand, personal ethical skills remain mainly hidden although their influence may bias quality audit results. The paper deals with various aspects of influences that may jeopardize objectivity of quality audit results, including the relations between the team leader and the team member whose joint performance may also generate adverse effects on final audit result.