Provision of tax consultancy by auditors to client companies : an evaluation

Abstract

Due to recent corporate scandals, the auditors' role has come under scrutiny with regards to their independence and consequently has led to new requirements for accountability. Such an example would be the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which has limited the NAS that auditors may provide to audit clients and also imposed major requirements. The aim of this dissertation is mainly to examine whether the provision of tax consultancy services to audit clients impairs auditors' independence both in fact and in appearance and therefore whether the provision of such services should be prohibited. The research was not focused entirely on tax consultancy services but has also touched on NAS in general since some of the literature found dealt with NAS rather than specifically with tax consultancy. Various literature was examined and afterwards a sample of persons was selected and interviewed in order to derive a conclusion regarding this matter.