The decrease in trust in audit services due to major corporate scandals has resulted in an increased interest of users of financial statements in assessing the quality of external audits. In this context, scientific research has analyzed numerous variables, one of which is the gender of the auditor. Given that the results of previous scientific research indicate the existence of desirable characteristics in female auditors compared to their male colleagues, the basic goals of this research included examining the connection between the gender of the independent auditor and the level of manipulation in financial statements, as well as gaining insight into the different characteristics of audits, such as the gender of the lead audit partner, the size of the audit firms, the rotation of audit firms and lead audit partners, the opinion of the independent auditor and the number of key audit matters highlighted in the reports of the independent auditors. The level of manipulations in financial statements was estimated using the Jones model. The research sample included trading companies that were listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange in the period from 2012 to 2021. Statistical methods such as descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to determine the connection between manipulations in financial statements and the gender of the independent auditor. The results indicate that there is no connection between manipulations in financial statements and the gender of the independent auditor in the Republic of Croatia.