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Auditor's legal liability:Regulation and deregulation

  • Journal of Regulation Studies
  • 2004, 13(1), pp.73-100
  • Publisher : 한국규제학회
  • Research Area : Social Science > Public Administration

Yi, Sang-Don 1

1고려대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This paper suggests that the proceduralistic paradigm of the law allows self-regulation to the legal fields of auditors. The Regulation on Liabilities of CPA(Certified Public Accountants) is provided in Securities and Exchange Act, the law on External Audit of Corporations, the civil code, the CPA Act, and the Regulation on Professional Ethics of CPA. Especially, regulation on the requisite of the Law on External Audit of Corporations is more mitigated than that of the civil law, and the punitive sanction of the former is enforced without causation or Ultra-ratio. In such a condition, what is the best way to regulate the auditors' liability more appropriately? Auditors' legal liability to shareholders and other investors is a significant aspect in auditing. A primary role of auditing in security markets is to reduce potential problems caused by the informational asymmetry. The function of accounting is to provide information to those in the market who place capital at risk-not to guarantee all such risks. Moreover, it is not fair that the auditors burden every risk of loss, because risks should be loss-spreaded. Auditors are only liable when an actual audit failure has in fact caused an injury. Therefore, we must repair the legal doctrines about the liability that has become distorted by the quest for compensation for every loss. The Gap between the under-deterrence and the over-deterrence should be filled up by communicating with others. We must also establish an arbitrary institution dealing with compensation for damages.

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