ANALYSIS OF COMPETENCE, INDEPENDENCE AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS INFLUENCE ON AUDIT QUALITY (EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT OFFICES IN MEDAN)

Abstract

Audit quality is very important because high audit quality will produce reliable financial statements as the basis for decision making. The profession of a public accountant is like a double edged sword. On the one hand, auditors must pay attention to credibility and professional ethics, but in the other hand auditors must also face pressure from clients in various decision making. This study attempts to develop a conceptual framework that can capture the construct of audit quality, therefore it can capture the complexity found in audit quality research. This research indicates that partially or simultaneously the competence, independence and professional ethics have a positive and significant effect on audit quality. Therefore, if someone has high competence, independence and professional ethics, will be the better the quality of the audit. Quality audit is very important to ensure that the accounting profession fulfills its responsibilities to investors, the general public and the government and other parties who rely on audited financial reports by upholding high ethics. If an auditor has challenged established professional standards, the audit quality produced by the auditor will be very low. But the higher the auditor obeys the ethics of the auditor, the higher the audit quality produced.

Keywords: competence, independence, professional ethics and audit quality