Auditors are once again squarely in regulators' crosshairs in ways not seen since the frenzied days before and after adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.
In the United States, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board—itself a product of SOX—is testing market appetite for expanded auditor reporting, including the disclosure of audit partner names in the audit report. Across the Atlantic, the European Commission is mulling mandatory auditor rotation, while Britain's Competition Commission is considering steps to break up the Big Four.
Your company's board may have grown comfortable with routines they have developed with auditors, but change is in ...