Historically,
Auditing which has been defined “ as the independent examination of the
financial statements of an organization with
a view to expressing an opinion as to whether these statements gives a
true and fair view and comply with relevant statues”( Aguolu, 2002:1) is
recorded to have started in the form of receipts and payment of an estate or
manor been read to the head or proprietor.
With
the industrial revolution, business became more complex requiring more formal
and improved accountability. In these circumstances, the need therefore arose
for some means by which shareholder who are scattered in different locations
and not directly involved with the day to day running of their companies would
be satisfied that the accounts presented to them by the Board of Director, did
represented the true financial position of the company. It was for this reason
that the practice developed of appointing auditors whose duty it is to verify,
on behalf on the shareholders, the account of the Directors and to report
thereon to the shareholders.
Since
surfacing in Nigeria, though limited by its internal regulation on leveraging
on available reach-out tools, the practitioners have nonetheless devise means
and ways of creating awareness and keeping themselves in public view without
contravening any of its guidelines.
One
of the lasting strategies for ensuring constant patronage of their services is
their ability to have convinced the government to make the auditing of the
financials of publicly owned companies an annual and compulsory exercise, thus
ensuring that without much effort, they continue to get patronage.
Other
than leveraging on its compulsory nature, the practice of auditing which is
recognized, industry-wide, as reputation driven business also engage in
indirect advertising. And one of the indirect advertising methods for them
which they have exploited to create a visibility in the market place is job
advertisement placement either for self or clients.
Such
advert placement, for them, is much more than a means of attracting qualified
associates; the firms use it as a means of sending out their brand personality
through the use of their Corporate colours and logos, in the process telling
little stories, transferring messages, describing Corporate cultures and the
skills and experiences of the people in the firm.
Other
in-direct strategies includes the excellent work done for big clients, words of
mouths either by staffs retelling their most successful stories or the
satisfied client, complimentary cards distribution at social functions,
speaking at conferences, publishing articles in professional journals,
co-operating with universities and Business schools.
Globalization
has seen companies set p shops in different parts of the world which legally
would be required to prepare a consolidated financials capturing all
subsidiaries around the world. The job of doing this is made more easier if all
the respective subsidiaries have the
same Auditing firm carrying out audit exercise simultaneously on all of them.
This has resulted in Auditing increasing their presence and visibility with
that of the companies since the companies often prefer consultants that is as
global as they are, to get more expertise and consistency.
With
the stagnation in the core business of
Auditing which does not show a high growth rate, individual auditing firm could only achieve growth at the expense
of competitions. This resulted in price war And an escape route was desired;
which ultimately led to more emphasis being laid on value adding services in
the area of consulting which had to be communicated to existing and potential
clients; thus the number crunching industry kept their auditing fees
artificially low to reel-in customers for more lucrative consulting (Business
Journal: 2002: 12). Some of these products are in the areas of taxation,
business combination arrangement, employment of staff and forensic accounting;
which is the integration of accounting auditing and special investigative
skills with the goal being to uncover the paper trail; left by a fraud
(Farrell, 1999:9)
As
a reputation propelled business, auditing firms in Nigeria, just as else where,
have tried building a strong brand name anchored on the three Ps of Process,
Physical evidence and People. According to an FT article cited in Recklies,
2003:3) “ more than 70% of the fortune 500 companies said branding is
increasingly important in helping them to choose where to get a service. They
want to be able to tell who is good at what” in the audit market, most
intending and existing shareholders are satisfied to have any auditing firm
with strong brand name attached to their companies.
Dwelling
in the people element in branding, Chernatony (1996) cite in Recklies,
emphasized the importance of people as the provider of the service. It is the
people who will communicate the personality and esaage of the brand to the
customer. These people are trained to be aware of the brand objectives so that
they can “live them” and communicate them to the customer.
The
element of physical evidence is about the environment in which the service is
offered and consumed. It is about the customer’s perception about the
qualification of the staff and how the staff “lives” the philosophy of the
corporate brand which is underlined by the distinguishable atmosphere that the customer can relate to the
service providers. This the firm achieve through the use of corporate brands
signs, corporate colours common for all employees everywhere the company
presents itself to the public.
The
third element in branding which is process is another sales strategy for
auditing firms as they strive to build a reputation on extremely high quality,
confidentiality of information, timing and availability, consistency and the
avoidance of the abuse of insider knowledge. Poor quality in one area, they
know, can affect the whole brand.
Finally,
they adopt the business model of merger and acquisition as in the case of
Akintola Delloite, as a sales strategy. New markets are developed by the
“buy-In”, the expertise and the access in the form of other firms. This model
is attractive to small firms as it enables them to increase their inorganic
growth strategy through the competitive advantage it avails them by leveraging
on the reputation, access to knowledge, new market, higher and better
visibility and cost reduction through resource-sharing in the areas like
training and recruitment.
In
conclusion, it ca be submitted that inspite of the legal challenge on auditing
firms on advertizing, auditing firms have been able to circumvent it by relying
on CAMA, indirect advertizing, job vacancies adverts for clients and self,
seminar presentations and sponsorship, excellent work done, words of mouth,
complimentary cards, article publication, globalization, value adding services,
strong brand building and the merge and franchising.
REFERENCES
Aguolu, O(2002), “ Fundamentals of Auditing”
Meridian Associates, Enugu. P1
Farrel, B.R, (19999), “ The Role Of The
Auditor In The Prevention And Detection Of Business Fraud: Sas
No 82” western criminology review
2/1.
Kelly, J (1998), “Paying for
that Old Brand Magic: Marketing Professional service”, Finacial Times, 1998:
August 12, P12
Nwabueze, PBC, (2000), “Basic
Principles of Auditing” M’cal Communication International, P1 Enugu
Tomasic, R, (2006), “ Auditors And The
Reporting Of Illegalities And Financial Fraud”
Ubesie, MC, (2000), “Auditing Today” Computer Edge
Publishers, Enugu. p1