Regulation of the statutory auditor in the European Union: a comparative survey of the United Kingdom, France and Germany

In this paper we discuss regulation of the statutory auditor in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Previous research has addressed regulation of statutory auditors with respect to regulatory harmonization and the reduction of barriers to intra-European trade in professional services. While these are important goals, it has also been the policy of the European Commission to encourage high standards of auditing, which the Commission anticipates will evolve within the legal and regulatory frameworks of the Member States of the EU. In this regard, our paper seeks to investigate how auditor regulation is organized in three important EU economies. In particular we examine several key functions of auditor regulation and how these are deployed in the three countries investigated. In addition we provide some forward-looking comments concerning regulation of statutory auditors in the EU.