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This paper challenges the increasingly accepted position that, internationally, the audit profession is facing a major liability crisis. Its analysis of auditing developments in Spain since the late 1980s reveals an audit liability “crisis” which is more the result of the profession’s campaign to align itself with legal regimes abroad rather than a direct consequence of major legal settlements in favour of third parties. The Spanish experience is made particularly interesting by the dramatic change in the auditing profession’s stance - clearly rejecting responsibilities and legal traditions that it had willingly accepted just over a decade ago (when auditing was established in statute). A major implication of the paper is the need for notions of “international” and “crisis” to be used with great care in the audit arena and for their mobilising power to be recognised, especially given the limited availability of detailed studies of different national auditing contexts.

utilizado: 3.1. Determinación de las hipótesis del estudio. 3.2. Descripción de la muestra objeto de estudio y método estadístico utilizado para el contraste de hipótesis.4. Análisis de los resultados obtenidos: 4.1. Calidad de la información contable por sectores de actividad. 4.2. Agrupación de sectores de actividad atendiendo a su calidad informativa. 4.3. Tipos de informes por sectores homogéneos. 4.4. La calidad de la información contable por tamaño de la empresa. 4.5. La actitud de la profesión auditora en la emisión de informes no limpios. 4.6. Análisis de la distinta participación de los auditores por sectores de actividad y por tramos de tamaño.-5. Conclusiones.-Bibliografla. (*) Este trabajo se puede considerar resultado del Proyecto de Investigación PB98-1112-C03-03 financiado por el

The 1990s in Spain have witnessed a significant shift in attitudes towards the role of auditing, with promises of more transparent reporting being replaced by talk of audit expectations gaps. This paper explores the changing atmosphere, both through an analysis of one of the most notorious scandals of recent times - involving the Banco Espanol de Credito ('Banesto') - and a more general review of the way the Spanish profession has responded to such downturns in public expectations of auditing. While at first sight, the profession appears to have become more defensive and the audit environment more competitive, the multinational accounting firms do appear to have strengthened their position in the Spanish audit market. Intriguingly, despite public expressions of concern with the quality and capabilities of auditing and the imposition of large fines on audit firms for inadequate audit work, proposed 'solutions' for improving audit quality include the establishment of a self-regulated audit regime and reductions in auditor liability. The Spanish experience allows for some timely reflections on the significance of an audit expectations gap and highlights the importance of viewing the audit function from an international perspective.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the internal audit function and auditor's fees using a sample of Spanish listed companies between 2003 and 2011. We use the audit fees model that was proposed by Simunic (1980). Our results indicate that fees are greater in those companies that have an internal audit function. In addition, if there are meetings between the audit committee and the internal audit function, this is statistically significant with audit fees. This paper contributes to literature in several ways. Firstly, there are no previous papers in Spain, unlike other contexts, on the relationship between internal audit and auditor fees. Secondly, the empirical results detected in previous studies are conflicting; therefore, there is a need to complement them. Finally, the findings have practical implications for companies, external auditors and regulatory agencies themselves. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la relación existente entre la función de auditoría interna y los honorarios del auditor sobre una muestra de empresas que cotizan en el mercado continuo español entre 2003 y 2011. Utilizando el modelo de honorarios de auditoría propuesto por Simunic (1980), los resultados indican que los honorarios de auditoría son mayores en aquellas compañías que cuentan con la existencia de un departamento de auditoría interna. Asimismo, la existencia de reuniones entre el comité de auditoría y la función de auditoría interna es estadísticamente significativa con los honorarios. Este estudio contribuye a la literatura de diversas formas. En primer lugar, no existen trabajos anteriores en España, a diferencia de otros contextos, sobre la relación entre auditoría interna y honorarios. En segundo lugar, los resultados empíricos detectados en estudios previos resultan contradictorios por lo tanto lleva a la necesidad de complementarlos. Finalmente, los resultados tiene implicaciones prácticas para la empresa, los auditores externos y los propios organismos reguladores.