Obstacles of Auditing the Environmental Performance of Industrial Corporations: An Analytical Field Study

Abstract

The study aims at identifying the obstacles that limit the Egyptian External Auditors to audit the environmental performance of industrial corporations with environmental impacts; which could enable the stakeholders to evaluate the environmental information and enables the external auditor to verify this performance. This helps to narrow the gap between the auditing profession and the expectations and needs of users. To achieve this objective, the study included four topics. The first topic dealt with the extent to which the current accounting systems measure and disclose environmental performance. The second topic examined the appropriateness of the current qualification of the external auditor to perform the environmental audit. The third topic examined the obstacles related to the implementation of the environmental audit process, such as the multiplicity and diversity of the standards and their incompleteness. The fourth topic was devoted to the field study, which dealt with the survey of the parties interested in the audit process in Egypt such as auditors and financial managers, in order to verify the research hypotheses. The study concluded that a lack of appropriate measurement and disclosure of items related to environmental performance is one of the obstacles facing the auditor when conducting an environmental audit. The current qualification of the financial auditor is limited only to the aspects that enable him to perform the financial audit, and that the environmental audit requires some additional qualification. The lack of environmental auditing standards may affect the credibility of the audit findings and expose the auditor to accountability.