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The Relationship Between Internal and External Audit

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The Relationship Between Internal and External Audit
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AUDIT
Professor PhD Atanasiu Pop, „Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, e-mail: apop@econ.ubblcuj.ro PhD Student Cristina Boţa-Avram, „Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, e-mail: botaavram@gmail.com PhD Student Florin Boţa-Avram, „Babeş Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, e-mail: botaavramflorin@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Analyzing the evolution process of internal audit, from its beginnings and so far, we can easily notice that internal audit function was born through detaching of some activities from external audit, the result being that there some situations when these two functions could be easily confused. The reality is that internal audit and external audit are two distinctive functions; net differenced, but which are also characterized through some complementary relationships. In this paper, we try to give our contribution at the clarification of the similarities and differences between these two functions, making a literature review that allowed us to identify some very interesting studies that permitted us to emphasize the main criterions that influenced the relationship between internal audit and external audit.
Keywords: internal audit, external audit, objectivity, competence

JEL Codes: M42 1. Introduction The coordination of internal audit activity with external audit activity is very important from both points of view: from external audit’s point of view is important because, in this way, external auditors have the possibility to raise the efficiency of financial statements audit; the relevancy from internal audit’s point of view is assured by the fact that this coordination assures for the internal audit a plus of essential information in the assessment of risks control (Dobroţeanu, L.& Dobroţeanu C.L., 2002). The importance of the relationship from internal audit and external audit is reflected also by International Standards of Audit (610 - „Considering the work of internal audit”), which



References: 1. Arens, A.A. & Loebbecke, J.K. - Auditing: An Integrated Approach, Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, 1991. 2. Berry, L. - Coordinating Total Audit Coverage: Trends and Practices, IIA Inc., Altamonte Springs, Florida, 1984. 3. Colbert, J.L. - Risk: internal and external auditors operate from two different, official definitions of risk, Internal Auditor, October, 1995. 4. Dobroţeanu, L.& Dobroţeanu C.L. - Audit – concepte si practici, abordare naţională şi internaţională, Editura Economică, Bucureşti, 2002. 5. Haron, H. & Chambers, A. & Ramsi, R. & Ismail, I. - The reliance of external auditors on internal auditors, Managerial Auditing Journal, 2004,Vol. 19 No. 9, pp. 1148-1159. 6. Lemon, M.W.& Tatum K.W., - Internal auditing’s systematic, disciplined process, The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 2003, accesibil on-line la www.theiia.org. 7. Maletta, M. - An examination of auditors’ decision to use internal auditors as assistants: the effect of inherent risk, Journal of Contemporary Accounting Research, 1993, Vol. 9 No. 2. 8. Mautz, R. - Internal and external auditors: how do they relate?, Corporate Accounting, Vol.3 No.4, 1984, pp.56-58. 9. Peacock, E.& Pelfrey, S. - How internal auditors view the external audit?, The Internal Auditor, June, 1989, Vol.46, pp.48-54. 10. Reinstein, A., & Lander, G.H. & Gavin, T.A. - The External Auditor’s Consideration of the Internal Audit Function, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 9 No. 7, 1994, pp. 29-36. 11. Renard J. - Teoria şi practica auditului intern, ediţia a IV-a, Ministerul Finanţelor Publice, Bucureşti, 2002. 12. Rittenberg, L.E. & Covaleski, M. - The Outsourcing Dilemma: What’s Best for Internal Auditing, The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, Altamonte Springs, Florida, 1997. 13. Schneider, A. - Modelling external auditors’ evaluations of internal auditing, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 22 No. 2, 1984,pp. 657-78. 14. Tiessen, P. & Colson, R.H. - External auditor reliance on internal audit, Journal of Internal Auditing, Vol. 5 No. 3, 1990, pp. 10-22. 15. Ward, D.D. & Robinson, J.C. - Reliance on internal auditors, Journal of Accountancy, October, 1980, pp. 62-73.

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