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The aim of this study was to analyze the perception of students of the severity of infractions committed by independent auditing firms and their applicable penalties. This study also analyzes whether there is a difference in the severity of infractions and in the severity of punishments between the "big four" auditing companies and medium-sized Brazilian companies, according to the perception of these students. In general, the results showed that (1) infractions considered to be serious did not necessarily receive equivalent punishment, (2) the audit students saw no difference in the assessment of the seriousness of the infractions committed according to the size of the audit firm, and that the punishments should also not be different, (3) the issues related to the general aspects were perceived with greater penalties than the questions related to the audit opinion. This study is important since it presents an analysis of the perceptions of accounting students, showing an overall view of what future accounting professionals think about possible infractions committed by independent auditing firms and their applicable penalties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International accounting standards have substantially changed the way accounting is applied in Brazil since accounting professionals were used to objective concepts. Accountants had to change how they exercise their profession. From the perspective of these professionals, this study analyzes how these professionals view the process of convergence to international norms that introduced subjective concepts to accounting, especially the use of professional judgement and the substance over form principle, and the interaction with Brazilian cultural characteristics found in the literature. Based on the models of Hofstede and Gray, in addition to Brazilian cultural characteristics, 1,319 questionnaires were analyzed. The results indicate that the cultural characteristics of the professionals are not always compatible with the international standards, and manifest themselves differently due to the region and the size of the companies for which they work to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]