Auditors Want to Strip Investor Protection Duty from Draft Rules

Auditors want language specifying they have a duty to protect investor interests to be removed from proposed updates to foundational rules that spell out the responsibilities of auditors.

The Center for Audit Quality, which represents auditors of publicly traded companies, and several large audit firms urged the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to strike the language from a proposed update to rules that act as a mission statement guiding the work of outside accountants. Those rules, originally set by the accounting industry, cover due professional care, judgment, and reasonable assurance, among other topics.

“We believe that auditors and ...