%I Griffith College
%A Iphithule Mhlanga
%X Auditor liability and the cost of implementing quality standards is a concern not only for legislator’s/regulators but also for the auditing firms involved in Ireland. The purpose of the dissertation is to identify the sources of auditor liability and the methods to reduce their impact and to consider the implications for small to medium tier firms in Ireland in employing those methods to increase audit quality, reduce auditor liability and therefore allow them to be more competitive in the audit market. The growing divide between larger and smaller to medium tier firms is exacerbated by the expectation gap coupled with a limited financial base needed to sustain a defence against litigation. Due to this limitation of financial resources compared to larger firms the potential negative effect on small to medium tier audit firms could be an uncertain financial future.  To be borne in mind is that audit firms are business enterprises that pay tax to the government and employ people. Therefore unsustainable effects of litigation cases need to be avoided and stakeholders involved need a constructive solution that will address the issue of auditor liability and the costs involved of implementing quality. The relationship between the stakeholders involved is finely balanced as a one-stop solution may potentially have negative effects as some stakeholder’s views will be ignored and not taken on board. This may have an adverse effect of perpetuating the issue. Pre-acceptance procedures, training and risk assessment are recommendations made that could be used as a platform to begin the process of addressing the issue of liability and the costs associated with implementing quality standards to improve on auditor firm competitiveness.
%L go112
%O Dissertation Supervisor: Suzanne Burdis
%K Auditor liability, Risk assessment
%D 2015
%T Evaluating the impact of auditor liability on small to medium tier firms and the cost of implementing quality standards in Ireland.