WHATEVER you might think if your accounts have ever been qualified, auditors are only human.
Even with the best of intentions, an explosion in the number of Chinese companies looking to list means there are not enough qualified auditors to do the work.
Also of interest to the board is whether it might require rotation only for a subset of publicly traded companies, like the largest companies; whether there are enough qualified auditors to permit giant multinational companies to change regularly; and whether the practice would lead to opinion shopping.
The due diligence and risk assessment process will routinely involve background research, site visits, management interviews and a range of analysis and investigative work by appropriately qualified auditors.
The Xtreme Financial Accounting Standards Board will add pep to bean-counting by demanding that corporate annual reports contain photos of scantily clad women and that qualified auditors' opinions use slightly saltier language, such as: "Having reviewed the pertinent materials, we conclude that this company just like totally bites".
Regulators have boasted that the move could grant more than 4 million borrowers a chance to have their accounts examined by qualified auditors.
The scheme requires owners to provide details on over 160 criteria, ranging from energy, waste and local transport, and sends out a qualified environmental auditor to visit each property before awarding them bronze, silver or gold.
How can a quarter of NHS trusts get away with having their 'value for money' accounts qualified by their auditors?... ......The biggest challenge facing Mr Stevens may be convincing the public of the need for "massive change", as Sir David put it.
The state examination for auditors enables auditors, once qualified, to advise non-listed corporate clients on various issues including taxation.
The key: He'd put a science agency, such as the National Science Foundation, in charge of deciding whether a given project qualified, and leave IRS auditors to track paper, making sure, for example, the salaries and expenses supposedly devoted to research really were.
