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In recent years, the auditing profession has undergone many changes. Indeed, since the European audit reform in 2014, a new normative and legislative framework is imposed on the profession.
The objective of this thesis is to analyse the impact of international standards on small audit firms. In order to do so, we will attempt to provide answers to two research questions:
- is it possible for a small firm to comply with all the due diligence required by the regulatory framework?
- Is the current regulatory framework relevant and adapted to the specificities of financial statement audits performed by small audit firms?
Our thesis breaks down into two parts. The first part consists of a review of the existing literature on the issue of International Standards on Auditing for small firms. And the second part constitutes an empirical survey in which we analyse the answers obtained during interviews with professionals in the field.
Several conclusions can be drawn from our paper. Firstly, ISAs have had a greater negative impact on smaller audit firms, but it is indeed possible for them to comply with all due diligence requirements. Secondly, our research points out that some small auditing firms comply with international standards for the sole purpose of being able to continue to operate, and this attitude is detrimental to audit quality.
Finally, as a result of our research we come to the conclusion that International Standards on Auditing are not sufficiently adapted to audits of entities of low complexity.
This work can therefore serve as a recommendation to IAASB to adapt the regulatory framework for small audit firms.

International Standards on Auditing --- ISA --- Impact --- Small audit firms --- Adaptability --- IAASB --- Normative framework --- Small entities --- Professional judgement --- Audit threshold --- Profitability --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit