There is nothing so constant, they say, as change – and this certainly applies to the audit market. It may be a good few years since the scandals of Enron and WorldCom, but the repercussions are still being felt.
Link: to read the External Audit special report as a pdf, click here
The collapse of Andersen ushered in the era of the Big Four, which has pushed hard to gain greater protection against the same fate befalling one of them. This in turn has led to fears that choice at the top end of the market is severely limited and calls for ways to open it up to more players. This is without mentioning the introduction of wave after wave of regulations and corporate guidelines that have permanently altered the relationship between auditor and client.
A company’s audit committee has more power and more responsibility than ever before and lead audit partners cannot stay with the same client for long periods of time.
Soon companies will be negotiating with their audit providers over the limitation of the firm’s liability to its client, while the firms themselves face new threats from a new type of legal action.
This briefing will help you untangle the complex web that audit has become. We give you the latest information on the audit choice debate, show you how to switch audit partners in the smoothest way possible, or even change audit firms without too much pain.
If you’re looking for advice on how to negotiate your limited liability agreement, you can find it here, along with much more on the current state of the audit market.
It’s the information you need right now to help make the best decisions. But in six months time, given the nature of the audit market, it could all be changing again.
To read all the articles individually, click below:
Committee selection: off the bench
Partner rotation: tactical substitute
reader comments