（2005）The changing role of the auditors.pdfVIP

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at /researchregister /0268-6902.htm The changing role of the auditors The changing role of the R. Jayalakshmy, A. Seetharaman and Tan Wei Khong auditors Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Cyber Jaya, Malaysia Abstract 249 Purpose – To highlight the pressures that the auditors would face in the era of globalisation and the challenges they should be willing to accept in order to maintain trust and integrity. Design/methodology/approach – A wide range of articles and journals published in international journals as well as local journals has been reviewed. The areas covered include audit fraud, true and fair view interpretation, auditor independence and role of internal auditors. Further, ideas have also been obtained from critical write-ups in the business magazines on the fall of multinationals. Findings – A wide range of interpretation has been given by various groups of people on their understanding of the phrase “true and fair”. This has created great confusion as to the interpretation of the audit reports. This has been proven by the fall of many multinationals and the audit pioneers, Andersens. This is one of the causes of audit fraud and it is also seen that as the auditors face an enormous challenge as they enter the twenty-first century, they should be willing to change their attitudes towards their clients.