Audit Engagement Quality Control Review Process

The implementation of the engagement quality control review (EQCR) by the engagement quality control reviewer has been considered as one of the key elements of quality control in the auditing standards and its implementation is required in the audit of companies listed on the stock exchange. In this research, the data were collected through (1) conducting interviews with 25 partners of Iranian auditing firms in the spring and summer of 2023 and (2) the opinions of 12 certified accountants that were published in a newspaper or professional journals in the form of a conversation, round table, notes or articles. Then, by applying the grounded theory, the components that are the obstacles to the effective application of EQCR are identified and presented in the form of a conceptual system model. The validity of the research model was confirmed by 7 audit partners. The findings from the analysis of research data show that there are various obstacles in its different dimensions, the most important of which are: the structure and organization of some audit firm, the small size of many audit firms, economic considerations, low fees of Iranian audit firms, lack of qualified auditors, moral issues in the society, the society's specific problems, governing laws and regulations, weaknesses in quality grading of audit firms, inadequate communication with international professional communities, low awareness of auditing and lack of development, and low application of technology in Iranian audit firms. Considering that the international auditing standard 220 has been updated and includes more requirements for the EQCR, along with the findings of this research showing that the quality control standard is not effectively implemented by Iranian audit firms, some suggestions are given to fill these gaps.