Auditing financial statements in insurance enterprises: The case of Vietnam

Abstract

This study is conducted to study the implementation of the audit techniques and procedures executed by auditors using risk-based approach. The study also determines factors affecting audit quality of financial statements in Vietnamese insurance enterprises. Quantitative method is used in the study where questionnaires are sent to 250 independent auditors and 186 valid questionnaires are encrypted, declared and entered into SPSS software version 22.0. The results show that in audit techniques, except for document testing and verification technique, there were significant differences in application level of material testing, observation, interview, calculation and analysis techniques between big 4 firms and non-big 4 firms. The analysis also confirms that the most significant difference was between the two audit groups. In audit procedures, while control testing is not performed singly, detailed testing can be performed alone at all three assurance levels and the analysis is performed alone in the assurance level of 1. It is possible to combine them in these proce-dures with the assurance level of 2 and 3. On the other hand, the combination of these three proce-dures is only guaranteed at level 3. The results of the factor analysis and regression model test demonstrate that there were six factors influencing the audit quality of financial statements in insur-ance enterprises; namely audit method, auditors’ quality, awareness of auditors and director board, characteristics of insurance enterprises, legal environment and position of the audit firm. In particular, audit method and auditors’ quality are the strongest factors.

Keywords

• Audit quality of financial statements
• Audit procedures
• Audit techniques
• Insurance enterprises
• Risk - based approaches