Auditing standards in Malaysia

Abstract

The audit profession in Malaysia today faces many problems; the most urgent of which is the apparent lack of professional standards by some auditors in the conduct of their audits.The problem is further aggravated by the lack of legal or professional sanction on the auditors in the face of massive audit failures. This is no blessing to the image of the audit as well as the accounting profession as a whole, as the audit function forms the vel)' backbone of the accounting profession. It is the audit function that has given the accounting profession the prestige and the professional status that it currently enjoys and it is the independent audit function which has distinguished the accounting profession from the other related professions in the fields of information systems such as management consultants, computer experts and statisticians. In this article, the writer has proposed a framework for the formulation and enforcement of a codified set of auditing standards by the profession itself, for the regulation of the audit profession in the Malaysian environment. lt is the view of the writer that the regulation of the accoun ting profession should be entrusted to the profession itself and should not be left in tile hands of legislators who do not understand fully the significance of the accounting concep ts and principles involved. In formulating his proposals, the writer has carried out a survey and made comparative studies of the audit professions in the developed countries.