Mandatory audit: who performs audits of public companies on Belgrade stock exchanges

Audit is a systematic process of objective gathering and assessment of evidence related to company’s management statements regarding economic activities and events recorded during the reporting period. The purpose of financial statements audit is to build trust of potential users in published financial statements. This is achieved by obtaining auditor’s opinion on the compliance of the key elements of financial statements with the relevant financial reporting framework and professional standard. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of amandatory audit, especially for public companies. The research based on a sample of 434 companies listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange shows that national audit firms perform mandatory audits for nearly 63% of publiclytraded companies, while the remaining number of companies are audited by international audit firms (including the Big 4).