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The Fallacy Of Auditor Independence And A Possible Solution, Harrison Hall

Senior Honors Theses

The goal of this paper is to analyze present research for the importance of independence to the auditing profession, determine the greatest threats to auditor independence today, the problems these threats have caused and to explore a possible solution to these problems. For many years, audit professionals have been considered the gatekeepers of the public market. Since the passing of the Securities Acts in the 1930’s, the structure of the privatized audit industry has made it incredibly difficult for auditors to remain independent from their clients. Client fees, the rise of non-audit services and the complexity of audit-client relationships pose …