Investigating ISA adaptation in a developing country context: the selective influence of Big Four affiliates

This paper examines how the national process of adapting the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) unfolds in developing countries, focusing on the case of Egypt. The study relies on data gathered from 33 semi-structured interviews with government officials and senior auditors alongside documentary evidence. Our findings show how legacy state institutions that were involved in the national standard-setting committee have largely fallen short of their aspirations to align local auditing standards with the expectations set out in the ISAs. The lack of a coherent approach to developing state policy objectives, resources, and public consultation, together with technical demands and translation difficulties, hampered the process. Such weaknesses provided an opportunity for the local Big Four affiliates to become deeply involved. The firms’ strategic manoeuvres were driven not only by a material desire to protect their market position/status but also by a commitment to a perceived national duty to support government attempts at national standard-setting. Importantly, our findings reveal the selectivity of such interventions and the differential impact of ISA adaptation on the diverse constituency of audit firms. Theoretically, we propose the institutional void perspective to conceptualise the intervention of private actors as well as to articulate the elements of a void in an audit regulatory process. While Big Four firms typically seek to position themselves in such processes, we argue that international reforms and policies should focus on fostering a more inclusive, accountable, and deliberative system that promotes the presence of diverse, independent and representative local audit actors.