Joint Audit: Issues and Challenges for Researchers and Policy-Makers

International audience; The publication of the European Commission Green Paper, ‘Audit Policy: Lessons from the Crisis’ in October 2010, has stirred up a lively debate on the role of joint audits. This literature review identifies and evaluates, for the benefit of future research and regulators, existing evidence about joint audits. We find limited empirical support to suggest that joint audits lead to increased audit quality, but some empirical support to suggest that joint audits lead to additional costs. Overall, this paper indicates that joint audit should be seen as a mechanism that is embedded in a broader institutional context and not be considered in isolation from other factors tha…