Audit reporting for going concern in Spain during the global financial crisis

The current world financial crisis is causing real difficulties in the operation of firms and has generated renewed interest in audit reports. This study aims to analyse the impact of the financial crisis on the audit reports issued by auditors. We focus especially on those reports that contain questions relating to going concern situations. The sample analysed is formed by 2935 audit reports of unlisted Spanish firms for the years 2007–2010. From the results obtained we can affirm that the crisis being suffered by Spanish firms has not gone unnoticed by audit professionals. Our research reveals that as the crisis in Spain has worsened, the proportion of reports that include references to going concern situations has increased in comparison with 2007, when the financial crisis had not become manifest in Spain. The sectors of the Spanish economy most affected by the crisis are real estate and construction. Taking into account whether the audit firm issuing the report is Big-4 or Non-Big-4, no significant differences can be appreciated in the percentage of reports issued with going concern qualifications before the start of the crisis (2007) and during the crisis (2008–2010).