| Abstract: | This paper explores the reaction of UK financial auditors to the growth of society's environmental awareness and attendant legislative pressures. The developing regulatory framework of auditing is briefly reviewed from an environmental perspective but the main contribution of the paper is to report the results of a series of interviews with a range of audit practitioners. The aim of the interviews was to explore: how, if at all, the conduct of the audit is changing (or, in the opinion of those interviewed, should change) in the light of environmental concerns: whether more training and guidance from professional bodies is sought; and views on regulation. Interviewees' experiences and their views of the impact of increasing environmental awareness and regulation on the statutory audit are reported and discussed. In addition, their views concerning a possible widening of their attestation role to encompass environmental reports are explored. |
