The purpose of this study is to explore the views of independent external auditors, financial statements’ preparers and financial statements’ users regarding the general responsibilities of auditors with a focus on their responsibility for fraud detection. | Auditors responsibility for fraud detection Views of auditors preparers and users of financial statements in Saudi Arabia Accounting 6 2020 279 290 Contents lists available at GrowingScience Accounting homepage ac Auditors responsibility for fraud detection Views of auditors preparers and users of financial statements in Saudi Arabia Ahmed Abdullah Saad Al-Dhubaibia aDepartment of Accounting College of Business Administration Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Al-Kharj Saudi Arabia CHRONICLE ABSTRACT Article history The purpose of this study is to explore the views of independent external auditors financial statements Received November 20 2019 preparers and financial statements users regarding the general responsibilities of auditors with a focus Received in revised format on their responsibility for fraud detection. A structured questionnaire survey was used as an instrument December 27 2019 to collect data for this purpose. A total of 1 015 questionnaires were sent to three categories of Accepted February 19 2020 Available online respondents whereas 261 valid responses were received with an overall response rate of 26 . The February 19 2020 findings of this study revealed a substantial audit expectation gap in Saudi Arabia with regards to Keywords auditors responsibilities in general and their responsibility for fraud detection in particular. Preparers Auditors of financial statements and users as well assume that auditors provide an absolute assurance that Preparers audited financial statements are free from material misstatements including fraud. In contrast to Users auditors perception preparers and users of financial statements believe that auditors should be made Fraud liable to audit beneficiaries for losses if failed to disclose potential fraud in the audit report or for any Responsibility subsequent discovery of misstated audited financial statements. This study contributes to the audit Financial Statements profession
