AUDITORS’ OPINION-FORMING PROCESS: AN APPROACH FROM THE SUFFICIENCY AND PROPRIETY OF EVIDENCE

Abstract

This work presents an essay concerning auditors' opinion-forming process from the perspective of the evidence as main element within its formation. It characterizes the opinion as an act of power that is capable of influencing internal and external users' decision-taking. It presents the characteristics of propriety and sufficiency as evidence qualifiers from a constructionist perspective and as essential elements to form an opinion regarding data, a fact, or phenomenon that may undergo investigation. By using Mautz's (1980) theory as a base, it proposes a graphic design of the audit process by focusing on the characters of the evidence as the foundation of auditors' opinions. The proposal is not an attempt to establish a new model for authors' [sic] opinion-forming process, but an opportunity to understand it within the general context of the audit work that is carried out within organizations in the current economic juncture.