Abstract. Given the nowadays economic instability, we might consider that financial auditors could have been one of the important triggers for the economic crisis. Companies that, shortly after undergoing financial audits and publishing their financial statements, seemed to display a viable and true and fair view of their performance in the financial statements – endorsed by financial auditors – faced economic tribulations and needed financial aid to be able to survive on the market, banks’ case included. Scholars believe that the banks and investment companies decisively contributed to the unfolding of the financial crisis. This study presents the important role played by the financial auditors in deploying the economic crisis, as well as solutions for re-instating the financial audit activity, as we outline a discrepancy between expectations and results. The role of financial auditors and of corporate governance should shape the economic re-launch by means of differentiated and finely-tuned approaches and be correlated, as well as proportional, with the dimension and characteristics of the audited company.

Keywords: audit, crisis, credibility, corporate governance, financial institutions.