The Audit Oversight in European Union

The recent regulation of the audit profession in European Union, has imposed a higher level of harmonization among member states, in particular with respect to their oversight systems, increasing organizational and functional independence from professional bodies, as well as the transparency of the process and its results. However, the diversity existing up to the deadline for applying the new rules, as well as unsatisfactory results in other contexts of this oversight paradigm, raise doubts about an increase in the quality of the audit coming from this new model. This research aims to anticipate, through bivariate analysis the association between audit quality and independence of the audit oversight, regarding Public Interest Entities in European Unions in the pre-regulation period (2009-2015). We conclude that in some cases more independence is not associated with superior audit quality, but there's a positive impact of more transparency.