The Supreme Audit Institutions’ Ethics Challenges in the Contemporary Society

  • Iliodor Tiberiu PLEȘA Ph.D. student, "Valahia" University, Târgoviste, Romania
Keywords: supreme audit institution, ethics, INTOSAI, international standards for supreme audit institutions, corruption

Abstract

In a world increasingly affected by the phenomena of fraud and corruption, ethics has become a very important element in contemporary society. A series of financial scandals, such as Enron's case, have highlighted ethical deficiencies. In ensuring a stability climate at national level, the supreme audit institutions, as "public financial guards", play an extremely important role. Considering the importance of these institutions in the architectural structure of a rule of law, this article proposes to analyze the elements of ethics identified at the level of the Romanian Court of Accounts, as well as at several supreme audit institutions members of INTOSAI (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions). It also analyzed the relationship between ethics, independence, transparency and quality control as elements of international auditing standards for the public sector, being also realized a pyramidal hierarchy of the most important criteria of professional ethics in external public audit. This pyramid is based on the main analysis of the ethics tool in the Supreme Audit Institutions, namely the ISSAI 30 INTOSAI Code of Ethics, taking also into account other elements provided in the codes of ethics and professional conduct of other supreme audit institutions. All these aspects are analyzed in the context of the phenomena of fraud and corruption, which have become a real challenge for contemporary society.

References

[1] ISSAI 1 The Lima Declaration. p. 9
[2] ISSAI 10 Mexico Declaration on SAI Independence. p. 5
[3] ISSAI 11 INTOSAI Guidelines and Good Practices Related to SAI Independence. p. 6
[4] ISSAI 12 Value and Benefits of SAIs - making a difference to the life of citizens. ISSAI 20 Principles of Transparency and Accountability. p. 6
[5] ISSAI 21 Principles of Transparency - Good Practices. pp. 6-7
[6] ISSAI 30 Code of Ethics
[7] ISSAI 40 Quality Control for SAIs. pp. 4-14
[8] ISSAI 100 Fundamental Principles of Public-Sector Auditing. pp. 4-10
[9] ISSAI 200 Fundamental Principles of Financial Auditing. pp. 4-21
[10] ISSAI 300 Fundamental Principles of Performance Auditing pp. 3-5
[11] ISSAI 400 Fundamental Principles of Compliance Auditing. p. 2
[12] ISSAI 5700 Fraud and corruption. pp. 25-26
[13] Raportul de activitate al Curtii de Conturi a Romaniei pe anul 2014. pp. 11-12
[14] Raportul de activitate al Curtii de Conturi a Romaniei pe anul 2015. p. 16
[15] Raportul de activitate al Curtii de Conturi a Romaniei pe anul 2016. pp. 60-61
[16] Codul de conduită etică si profesională al personalului Curtii de Conturi a Romaniei
[17] http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=%20A/RES/66/209
[18] http://www.idi.no/en/sai-pmf
[19] www.intosai.org
[20] http://www.eurosai-tfae.tcontas.pt/default.aspx
[21] www.issai.org
Published
2018-06-19
How to Cite
PLEȘA, I. (2018). The Supreme Audit Institutions’ Ethics Challenges in the Contemporary Society. LUMEN Proceedings, 4(1), 211-223. https://doi.org/10.18662/lumproc.21
Section
Articles