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IA presence inside companies could represent a sort of “guarantee” according to the content of the previous rows, even if some failure cases do not demonstrate this kind of link. Literature referring to Enron case studies highlights the relevant and inappropriate connections between the management of the subsidiaries and the personnelof theauditing company,considering also the relationship sbetween external and Internal Auditors (Froud et al. 2004; Hirsch 2003; Citron 2003).
Reinstein and McMillan(2004) speak about the simultaneous presence of consultancy and audit services, stating that in199131% of the cash inflows of auditing organisations came from consultancy; in 1999 this percentage went up to 51% (Rebora2007).This work salso for IA coming from the outside of the company,in some case srepresented by specific departments of the traditional auditing companies in charge for internal auditing activities.
Even the U.S. Sarbanes—Oxley Act—which deals with these topics—has some limits, in particular the fact that it focuses on partial initiatives, not removing the actual cases of control failures (Cullinan 2004).
In addition to the IA, the statutory auditors represent a uniquely Italian role, essential to complete the present study focusing on Italian companies’empirical evidence.
Many studies highlight the difficulties indefining th eeffective rules and respons ibilities of the SA (Baravelli and Vigano` 2005), above all considering the new governance structure options introduced by the mentioned Reform of the Civil Code (Gallucci 2006).
In such a context the external auditors should provide a more remote failure risk of a control system since they manage a straight and independent application of auditing standards. Nevertheless the international literature demonstrates how audit activities are more and more aimed at satisfying a widespread need for legitimacy, transforming audit in a codified ritual, that is very precise in requiring the adoption of techniques, but unable to “catch” the real situation to which it refers (Power 1997 and 2003).
Moreover,decreasing importance seems to be given to the professional and deontologicaldimensionof auditing. In otherwords, the auditing professionis losing the internal “gentlemen” attitude, moving to a technical approach based on standards (McMillan 2004).
Some contributions state that auditing is now considered a business. The result is that there are growing trends in cost cutting to conduct auditing activities even if they are detrimental to the auditing quality, in terms of logical profit reasoning (Power 2003).
Based on the literature review described above the authors suggest the following research questions:
- What are the factors that can represent major risks in terms of control failures, according to the most important “categories” of auditors (Internal and External Auditors, Statutory Auditors)?
- What are the possible actions aimed at improving the Italian situation in terms of control activities, on the base of the perception of the most important auditors?
- Have the different categories of auditors the same perception of the risk factors connected to the control failure cases? If not, how can they be differentiated?
Figure 1 shows the links between the major findings coming from the literature review and the formulated research questions:
Findings from literature reviewr
In Sect. 4, Research Methodology, the steps leading to the answers to the research questions are described, by mentioning the main research instruments: interviews and questionnaires.
4.Methodology and research design
The main tool for the implementation of this research was a survey for the three groups to be studied. The main research instrument was a questionnaire. Personal interviews were conducted to pilot-test the effectiveness of the questionnaire before making it final and sending it.