"The Role of the External Auditor (Chartered Accountant) in Improving the Quality of Environmental Auditing" : Evidence From Jordan

Abstract

The study aimed to clarify the role of the external auditor (Chartered Accountant) in improving the quality of environmental auditing, through the study population represented by the Jordanian external auditors (Chartered Accountants) practicing the auditing profession in Jordan. The study sample consisted of 210 Jordanian external auditors (Chartered Accountants).The researcher adopted (SPSS) to analyze the data of the study. The study concluded a number of results, the most important of which is that environmental regulations, laws, standards, and play an important role in improving the quality of environmental auditing as well as the examination of operational processes plus book and documentary examination. Based on the results, the study recommends, and most importantly that the external auditor must ensure the adequacy of environmental regulations, laws and standards to verify their application by the establishments in addition to their commitment to it. Moreover the external auditor should follow up the developments happened through the publications and reports issued by the competent authorities. The external auditor shall also perform auditingprocedures for the environmental operations using the available and appropriate means and procedures to examine the operational processes to ascertain the environmental effects. Furthermore, the external auditor has to focus on the book and documentary examination, since books and documents are an essential source of information about the environmental performance of the facility in terms of measurement, treatment and disclosure of environmental aspects.

Key words: "Environmental Auditing,""Environmental Regulations, Laws and Standards," Examination of Operational Processes," and book and Documentary Examination.