Politics and Audit in Malaysia

Abstract

This work investigates the role and contribution of external auditing as practised in Malaysian society during the forty year period from independence in 1957 to just before the onset of Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.  It applies the political economic theory introduced by Tinker (1980) and refined by Cooper & Sherer (1984), which emphasises the social relations aspects of professional activity rather than economic forces alone. In a case study format where qualitative data were gathered mainly from primary and secondary source materials, the study has found that the function of auditing in Malaysian society in most cases is devoid of any essence of mission; instead it is created, shaped and changed by the pressures which give rise to its development over time. The largely insignificant role that it serves is intertwined with the contexts in which it operates.