Internal audit (IA) is theoretically considered a key element of modern corporate governance. Surprisingly, the existing knowledge on IA and its relation to the internal corporate governance structure is miscellaneous and rare. Consequently, empirical findings on the internal audit function...

The European audit reform contains the implementation of an external mandatory auditor rotation (audit firm rotation) and a separation of audit and non audit duties to increase auditor independence. The central question is, whether these regulation measures are connected with an increased...

The financial crisis has led to a loss of trust towards corporate governance quality and the balance of the European financial market. This became also apparent for Germany. In Germany financial companies' compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC) represents a basic standard...