Introduction: Auditing in Regulatory Perspective

LAW & POLICY, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2003

AUTHORS:
SASHA COURVILLE
CHRISTINE PARKER
HELEN WATCHIRS


ABSTRACT:

In his book, The Audit Society, Michael Power (1997) argued that there had been an “audit explosion” since the late 1980s. The word audit is now used in a variety of contexts to refer to new or more intense account-giving and verification requirements. At the same time, audit of corporate financial statements (traditionally the paradigmatic case of audit) is paradoxically increasingly criticized and increasingly relied upon in the wake of corporate collapses and financial scandals. It appears that ours is a society in which the audit is seen as a particularly important tool of regulation, accountability, and governance.

In February 2003, the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) and the National Institute of Government and Law at the Australian National University convened a workshop, “Auditing in Perspective: Regulatory Tool, Moribund Remedy or Democratic Champion?” to explore the relationship between regulation and audit. The audit explosion had reached RegNet, with members’ work and research covering types of “audit” as diverse as corporate compliance, democratic governance, environmental responsibility, human rights and HIV/AIDS, public sector, social accountability, and tax. The six papers in this collection were all presented and discussed at the workshop and revised for publication on the basis of discussion at the workshop and referees’ comments. 

FULL TEXT: FREE DOWNLOAD