On Civil Responsibility Of Accountants In The Scope Of The Third Party

The scope of the third party liability of certified public accountants (CPA) is a world-widely debated issue, and crucial to the very existence and development of accounting profession. This dissertation closely examines the legal position on this issue under Chinese law, various standards developed by common law judges in different periods to limit the third party liability and the legal techniques artificially created in case law to overcome the barriers presented by the Civil Code in Germany respectively. Then, on the basis of comparative law and policy considerations, the dissertation concludes that the standard be adopted to limit the CPA's third party liability under general tort law and puts forward the reasons of wider scope of third liability in the sphere of asset accreditation.The dissertation is divided into four parts except introduction and conclusion.Part one briefly introduces the definitions of CPA, misrepresentation and the CPA's main function, and then analyzes the main characteristic of indeterminate liability of the pure economic loss suffered by the third parties due to the CPA's misrepresentation.Part two examined Chinese legislations of General Civil Code, Contract Law, Securities Law and Certified Public Accountants Law and concludes that there is no clear general rule on the scope of the third parties under China's general tort law. Then, by close examination of judicial interpretations and relevant cases, the dissertation concludes that the standard wider than foreseeable third party be adopted in the sphere of asset accreditation.Part three introduces various standards developed by common law judges in different periods to limit the third party liability and the legal techniques artificially created in case law to overcome the barriers presented by the Civil Code in Germany respectively, and then undercover the social and economic background of the transition and transformation between different standards in the common law world.Part four concentrates on the policy considerations in limiting CPA's third part liability. The dissertation argues that the known third party be most reasonable standard in limiting CPA's liability generally and it also be rational to adopt wider standards in the sphere of asset accreditation due to specific policy considerations.