The Audit Transparency Report as required by Maltese legislation : an analysis

Abstract

Following the transposition of the Eighth Company Law Directive into local law, Maltese statutory auditors and audit firms auditing public interest entities are required to publish an annual transparency report on their website. This study aimed at analysing this newly issued European requirement and assessing its implications to the local scenario. Accordingly, this study sought to examine how the transparency report is perceived by its major stakeholders. The methodology adopted to fulfill the objective of the study entailed a series of semi-structured interviews with bank representatives, stock brokers and the Maltese regulator. This study revealed the fact that although stakeholders are generally aware of the requirement of publishing a transparency report, its use is not widely adopted in practice. Moreover, the independence practice and compliance of audit firms as well as their internal quality control systems were perceived as being highly important whereas the safeguard relating to the total turnover was given low ratings. The section regarding the internal quality control system also lacked user-friendliness. It was evident that although the transparency report is believed to provide valuable information to stakeholders, the latter leaves much to be desired locally. Hopefully, this study will lead to further research in the subject matter primarily with respect to the two recommendations given in this context: assessing the transparency report from the practitioners' point of view and a follow-up study.