Un análisis comparado de las Cuestiones Clave de Auditoría en España y las Critical Audit Matters en EE.UU. Implicaciones sobre la armonización internacional de la auditoría

  1. María Antonia García Benau 1
  2. Laura Sierra García 2
  3. Nicolás Gambetta 3
  1. 1 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

  2. 2 Universidad Pablo de Olavide
    info

    Universidad Pablo de Olavide

    Sevilla, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02z749649

  3. 3 Universidad Ort Uruguay
    info

    Universidad Ort Uruguay

    Montevideo, Uruguay

    ROR https://ror.org/03ypykr22

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Journal:
Revista de Contabilidad y Tributación. CEF

ISSN: 2695-6896,  2792-8306

Year of publication: 2022

Issue: 473-474

Pages: 151-180

Type: Article

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More publications in: Revista de Contabilidad y Tributación. CEF

Abstract

The inclusion in the audit report of the most significant risks has been, in recent years, the central point of the debate around the audit. In this article we analyze the Key Audit Matters in Spain (CCA) and the Critical Audit Matters in the US (CAM) in a sample of 35 companies from each country during the years 2019 and 2020. These concepts differ since the CAM only recognizes as risks those that are reflected in an accounting entry, while the CCA speaks of significant risks, linked to accounting entries or not. This difference creates problems in achieving international auditing harmonization and send signals to the market that may be misleading for stakeholders.Our empirical study provides pioneering comparative evidence on CCA in Spain and CAM in the US, calling especially to the fact that risks related to legal and regulatory compliance, information technology and other risks are not included by the auditors in the audit reports of US companies as they are not linked to accounting entries. In addition, the study shows that the audit firm, the auditor's specialization and the industry sector affect the type of matters included by the auditors in the audit report. The reflections that we propose in this article, using the results of our empirical analysis, show that information gaps can be created for stakeholders that analyze US companies and, what is even more confusing, endangers the completion of the international harmonization process of the audit.

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