What is meant by an auditor’s credibility and how it can be achieved?
Credibility
Credibility is the trust and faith that people have on someone. Credibility is a very essential quality that an auditor should have since his job is to express an opinion on the truth and fairness of a company’s financial statements. The various user’s who depend on this audit report should be able to believe in the genuineness of the auditor’s work and the audit report in order to make effective decisions.
An auditor can obtain credibility if followed the ACCA’s code of ethics and conduct, which implies standard rules that should be adopted by the auditors. It set outs the fundamental principles of professional ethics that is believed and trusted by the public and various user groups. In this regard, one of the most imported principles is ‘objectivity’ which is directly linked to the auditor’s independence. Other principles set out by the ACCA's code of ethic and conduct includes:
• Integrity: Auditors must be honest and straightforward, disclosing all the relevant facts and evidence with sincerity in carrying out the audit engagement.
• Professional competence and due care: Auditors should have the capability to provide professional service to the clients. This means that the auditors should seek to acquire the sufficient and appropriate knowledge, experience and training, so that the clients are provided with a high quality service.
• Confidentiality: Auditors shall respect the confidentiality of information acquired as a result of professional and business relationships. Therefore, confidentiality is a professional duty that auditors should maintain and it is an implied term of the general agreement made between the auditor and the client. However information can be disclosed in certain situations where for instance, the client has given consent to do so, or where there is a legal, professional or public duty to disclose. In addition, the auditors must refrain from using...