External auditors’ decisions in EU credit institutions: A multicriteria approachExternal auditors’ decisions in EU credit institutions: A multicriteria approach Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2015-10-282006enIn this paper we develop classification models that could assist auditors in their decision to issue a qualified or unqualified opinion during the auditing of EU credit institutions. The models are developed with the Utilites Additives Discriminantes (UTADIS) multicriteria technique and incorporate financial and non-financial variables. Discriminant analysis is also employed for comparison purposes. The dataset consists of 80 qualified financial statements and 2,631 unqualified ones, from 446 credit institutions operating in eight EU countries over the period 1995–2002. The models are developed and tested using a ten-fold cross-validation approach. The results show that the developed auditing models can discriminate between financial statements that should receive qualified opinions from the ones that should receive unqualified opinions. The overall accuracy is 73.55% in the validation sample for a general model and increases up to 88.49% in the case of a model developed specifically for commercial banks.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/International Journal of Auditing210163-182 Zopounidis Konstantinos Ζοπουνιδης Κωνσταντινος Gaganis, Chrysovalantis Pasiouras, Fotios Capability, Financial (Financial literacy) Financial capability (Financial literacy) Literacy, Financial financial literacy capability financial financial literacy financial capability financial literacy literacy financial