AN ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK FOR AUDITORS' PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

The aim of this research project is, on the basis of key works in the areas of agency and contracting theories as well as professional ethics, to develop a general and coherent theoretical framework explaining the existence and development of and motives for auditors' codes of professional conduct, and to provide certain economic reasons why auditors are generally expected to adhere to these codes. More specifically, the emphasis is on providing some plausible theoretical explanations for what the underlying economic rationales for developing, maintaining and enforcing professional ethics in auditing are, and what rationales auditors, both as individuals and as a group, have for adhering to these codes of professional conduct.