This study aimed to identify the reality of the factors of changing the external legal auditors belonging to the company under review in the Libyan joint stock companies، and to measure and analyze the relative importance of these factors from the point of view of the external auditors registered in the Libyan stock market.

Due to the nature of the study، a questionnaire was designed as a basis for the field study that was conducted on the study population. (25) questionnaires were distributed to a sample of external auditors، (23) of which were retrieved، and (22) questionnaires were analyzed، representing (88 % ) of the total distributed questionnaires. The study reached several results، the most important of which are: the absence of laws and regulations issued by companies or the legislative authority in Libya that determine the number of years of changing the external legal references in companies. This gives us an indication that there is a noticeable change in auditors in companies listed on the Libyan stock market. The study concluded with a set of recommendations، the most important of which are: observing the legal conditions when changing the external legal auditor and abide by them when changing

them. And working on holding training courses for the senior management and financial managers of Libyan joint stock companies to inform them of the importance and nature of the work of the external auditor to remove any wrong ideas and beliefs about the audit function، in order to Cooperation between management and auditors، thus limiting the process of changing the external auditor.

Keywords: change of external legal references، Libyan joint stock companies.