Even though no one has directly blamed the auditors or the audit process for creating the global financial market collapse of 2008, many were left wondering what role auditors played and whether they could have prevented it. Were the auditors sufficiently independent, objective, and skeptical? (Bitti, Enhancing Audit Quality, CA Magazine, March 2013).

Required:

Discuss whether you believe changes are needed in the auditing profession to ensure auditor independence (such as those envisioned by CPA Canada’s Enhancing Audit Quality initiative) or whether additional changes are likely to increase the cost of audits while providing the marketplace with negligible benefit.