A importância da auditoria externa na detecção de fraudes: nas empresas do setor industrial privado do Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

The main objective was to present the importance of the external audit to detect fraud in companies in the private industrial sector of Rio Grande do Norte state, and the specific aimed to verify that companies have manual internal control, to identify whether they have the internal audit sector, and the reasons that lead companies to hire the external audit service. The scientific importance materializes on the finding of the recent accounting scandals among the big national and international companies, thus creating a scenario of insecurity to investors and financial institutions in relation to the credibility of financial statements of companies. The type of research that was adopted to prepare the work was basically the literature, it encompasses all the literature taken as a subject of study. The universe of research was the questionnaire with 20 independent auditors of Rio Grande do Norte state, where I got in return 10, answered. The form of survey data, the study was qualitative characteristic, the environment of the industries is the main source for the collection of data and the researcher is the key tool. They were collected through questionnaires given to auditors. It has been found through this research that a considerable number of companies never went through the audit process, which already qualifies as a major factor in facilitating fraud. The results achieved by the survey were based on responses from questionnaires with the independent auditors, and denote that 60% of respondents have audited companies in the private industrial sector, while 40% never audited companies in this sector. It appears so, even if the detection of fraud and error is not the main point of an audit, this issue needs to be handled with great professionalism and competence and should be carried out the investigation and the evidence obtained if elaborating consequently report administration.