IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/euract/v7y1998i4p655-673.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards the establishment of an internal market for audit services within the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Maijoor
  • Willem Buijink
  • Roger Meuwissen
  • Arjen Van Witteloostuijn

Abstract

The central issue in this paper is the creation of an internal market for audit services within the European Union (EU). It provides an analysis of the impact of differences between national auditing regulations on intra-EU trade in audit services. To that end, the paper distinguishes three forms of intra-Union crossborder trade in audit services: (1) cross-border establishment as an auditor; (2) cross-border provision of audit services; and (3) cross-border control of an audit firm. The paper also distinguishes four categories of regulation of auditing: (I) regulation of the qualification as an auditor; (II) regulation of competition between auditors or audit firms; (III) regulation of control of audit firms; and (IV) other regulations. For each of the three forms of intra-Union trade the paper indicates the importance of each of the four categories of regulation as trade barriers. For each of the three forms of trade the current level of intra-EU trade is then discussed. The paper shows that there is little such trade and argues that given the intra-EU auditor regulation differences, audit markets within the EU are still separate markets. This is of course remarkable against the background of the drive towards more market integration in the EU in general. The paper then uses insights from audit market research to suggest which forms of national audit market regulations in EU Member States should be removed to increase intra-EU trade in audit services. The paper identifies existing national regulations of the control of audit firms as the most important barrier. The paper argues that removing these (strict) regulations is the most promising route towards more intra-EU trade in audit services.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Maijoor & Willem Buijink & Roger Meuwissen & Arjen Van Witteloostuijn, 1998. "Towards the establishment of an internal market for audit services within the European Union," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 655-673.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:7:y:1998:i:4:p:655-673
    DOI: 10.1080/096381898336240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/096381898336240
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/096381898336240?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Benston, George J., 1985. "The market for public accounting services: Demand, supply and regulation," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 33-79.
    3. DeAngelo, Linda Elizabeth, 1981. "Auditor size and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-199, December.
    4. Peter Moizer, 1992. "State of the art in audit market research," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 333-348.
    5. Alain Mikol, 1993. "The evolution of auditing and the independent auditor in France," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 1-16.
    6. van Witteloostuijn, Arjen & van Wegberg, Marc, 1992. "Multimarket competition : Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 273-282, July.
    7. Merete Christiansen & Anne Loft, 1992. "Big players and small players," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 277-301.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    2. Maria Antonia Garcia Benau & Emiliano Ruiz Barbadillo & Christopher Humphrey & Walid Al Husaini, 1999. "Success in failure? Reflections on the changing Spanish audit environment," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 701-730.
    3. C. Richard Baker & Alain Mikol & Reiner Quick, 2001. "Regulation of the statutory auditor in the European Union: a comparative survey of the United Kingdom, France and Germany," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 763-786.
    4. Samsonova-Taddei, Anna & Humphrey, Christopher, 2015. "Risk and the construction of a European audit policy agenda: The case of auditor liability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 55-72.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ignace de Beedle & Nathalie Gonthier-Besacier & Alain Mikol, 2003. "Le développement des grands cabinets anglo-saxons d'audit en France," Post-Print halshs-00582758, HAL.
    2. Heuser, Simon & Quick, Reiner & Schmidt, Florian, 2015. "Die Anbieterkonzentration auf dem deutschen Prüfungsmarkt – Eine empirische Untersuchung der Jahre 2010-2013," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 69(1), pages 81-109.
    3. I. De Beelde & N. Gonthier-Besacier & A. Mikol, 2006. "The Introduction Of The Anglo-American Audit Firms In France," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/392, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    4. Breuer, Matthias & Le, Anthony & Vetter, Felix, 2023. "Audit mandates, audit firms, and auditors," Working Papers 333, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    5. Mennicken, Andrea, 2010. "From inspection to auditing: audit and markets as linked ecologies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 27054, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Yahn-Shir Chen & Joseph Hsu & Mei-Ting Huang & Ping-Sen Yang, 2013. "Quality, Size and Performance of Audit Firms," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 7(5), pages 89-105.
    7. Stefan Sundgren, 1998. "Auditor choices and auditor reporting practices: evidence from Finnish small firms," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 441-465.
    8. Yan-Jie Yang & Jungpao Kang & Ruey-Ching Lin & Joshua Ronen, 2016. "Auditor selection within a business group: evidence from Taiwan," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 195-215, February.
    9. De Beelde, Ignace, 1997. "An exploratory investigation of industry specialization of large audit firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 337-355.
    10. Mennicken, Andrea, 2010. "From inspection to auditing: Audit and markets as linked ecologies," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 334-359, April.
    11. Ebrahim, Ahmed & Fattah, Tarek Abdel, 2015. "Corporate governance and initial compliance with IFRS in emerging markets: The case of income tax accounting in Egypt," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 46-60.
    12. Jean-Marc Siroën, 1993. "Marchés contestables, différenciation des produits et discrimination des prix," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(3), pages 569-592.
    13. Sang Cheol Lee & Mooweon Rhee & Jongchul Yoon, 2018. "Foreign Monitoring and Audit Quality: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, September.
    14. Gerry Gallery & Emerson Cooper & John Sweeting, 2008. "Corporate Disclosure Quality: Lessons from Australian Companies on the Impact of Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(3), pages 257-273, September.
    15. Peter Kuhn, 1982. "Malfeasance in Long Term Employment Contracts: A New General Model with an Application to Unionism," NBER Working Papers 1045, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Shamsul Arifeen Khan Mamun, 2012. "Stochastic estimation of cost frontier: evidence from Bangladesh," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 211-227, May.
    17. Makoto Yano, 2005. "Coexistence of large firms and less efficient small firms under price competition with free entry," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 1(3), pages 167-188, September.
    18. Garcia-Blandon, Josep & Argiles-Bosch, Josep Maria & Castillo-Merino, David & Martinez-Blasco, Monica, 2017. "An Assessment of the Provisions of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 on Non-audit Services and Audit Firm Tenure: Evidence from Spain," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 251-261.
    19. Lennox, Clive & Wang, Chunfei & Wu, Xi, 2023. "Delegated leadership at public accounting firms," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    20. Boone, J., 2004. "Balance of Power," Other publications TiSEM d3f8cd4b-eaf0-4c1c-aed4-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:7:y:1998:i:4:p:655-673. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REAR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.