The development of Maltese law governing accountants and auditors from 1945 to date

Abstract

As the title indicates, this thesis will be focusing on the historical development of legislation by which accountants and auditors have been, and are, governed in the Maltese Islands. Prior to 1979, there was no Maltese legislation which was specific to the work carried out by the accountant and auditor, although there were references in legislation which served to regulate these operations. This work will therefore start by taking a close look at the development of legislation, both locally as well as in other countries, from a historical perspective, leading up to the coming into force of the Commercial Partnerships Ordinance of 1962. Chapter Two focuses on two pieces of legislation which are interwoven with accountancy and audit, namely the Accountancy Profession Act of 1979, and the Companies Act of 1995. Besides obligations emanating from these two pieces of legislation, accountants and auditors are also bound by other laws, and Chapter Three will look closely at these laws to see the status of the profession under these laws. This thesis goes beyond the merely historical development of the laws. During the course of this work, it came to light that current development concerns mostly the issue of the liability of the auditor. This directed the focus of Chapter 3 of this work, and the Appendix on this issue. Chapter Four focuses on developments in European Law leading up to the present, giving detailed developments of what led to the publication of Directive 2006/43/EC. The fifth and final chapter looks at the transposition into Maltese Law, of this Directive, through amendme1Jts to laws, issue of legal notices, and also of Directives by the Accountancy Board. It also looks at the transposition of the obligations of the 福利在线免费 Directive. The Appendix to this work analyses in depth the issue of Auditor Liability.