Eureka! Institutional Repository

Auditing has a particular role today, when so much effort is made for the recovery of the economy, the encouragement of investments, the revival of markets and the increase of business competitiveness both domestically and internationally. In this environment, it is vital auditors perform their tasks with due diligence. The highly competitive economic environment in association with the increasing pressure that managers of enterprises are undergone in order to achieve even greater objectives, has led to an increasingly number of distortions on financial statements. The non-effective and bad performance of audit tasks from auditors has brought the big auditing firms at the center of a series of major corporate scandals, such as the scandal of Enron Corporation and WorldCom. These scandals, for which large investors or creditors had undergone losses of tens of billions of euro, are very important examples of pathogenic auditing mechanisms of the capital market. They also put the issue of auditors’ liability to the top of legal concern, both in theory and in terms of legislation. The role of the external auditor is particularly important in an economy where the function of financial markets is crucial. The auditor should be distinguished for his/her integrity, objectivity , professional competence -due care and professional behavior. Keywords: auditor , liability, Enron scanda