WHEN AUDITING IN GERMANY BECAME INTERNATIONAL. A FAST-GROWING FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS 1948-1989

Abstract

In Germany, after the introduction of statutory audits in 1931, the absolute independence of
the auditor from the company audit client was, in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon countries, not
guaranteed. After the Second World War, accountancy needed agreement on internationally
compatible standards earlier than any other service industry. While accountancy firms in Great
Britain and the USA shared a long experience in auditing and in the international auditing
business in particular, German firms were young and quite small by comparison. Therefore,
they were in no
way equipped to compete with the big international accountancy companies
of British and American origins. Between the sixties and eighties, however, German firms
drew level by developing ties with continental European auditing firms and lining up with the
Anglo-Saxon auditing standards.