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Do Auditing and Assurance Service have a future?

1 Introduction
Recent large corporate collapses- like Pasminco, Ansett, OneTel, Impulse Airlines, Harris Scarfe, and HIH Holdings, while the US giants include Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management, MicroStrategy, and Phar-Mor - have exposed gaping holes in the system of investor safeguards designed to ensure that investors receive full and fair disclosure about the companies in which they invest. The collapse has also focused attention on the issue of auditor independence. Although a company and not its auditors is ultimately responsible for the information it discloses (or declines to disclose) to the public, independent auditors have long played a critical role in protecting investors. By applying widely accepted accounting principles to their clients' books, auditors are supposed to verify that what a company wants to report as profits are actually that, and that what a company doesn't want to call debts are nonetheless known. Here, auditors are supposed to provide the first line of d...

Posted by: Anthony Pacella

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