Synopsis of the Accounting Research in Hellas

Abstract

The scope of this paper is to provide a synopsis of the accounting research in the Hellenic corporate environment. In addition, we will examine the quality of audit in publicly listed companies, as prescribed by the term “audit gap”; this term specifies and characterizes the growing public concern regarding the audit report credibility and efficiency.These two topics (Hellenic accounting and auditing environment) have been isolated and examined from the previous researchers in depth; however, the novel think of this study is that it examines this “audit gap”, which is the gap between the expectations the public has from the auditors and what auditors actually do in their reports (Caramanis, 2008). This research is useful for capital market and audit authorities as they should focus more on improving audit work and preparing accounting and auditing standards that prevent earnings management. However, our study has the limitation that it examined the capital market, audit and accounting environment of a single country, i.e. Hellas/Greece.