A raw deal for auditors

There is a distinction between audit negligence and criminality. The government and the leaders in the auditing profession must have a clear dialogue

The auditing “expectation gap” of what the public and other financial statement users perceive auditors’ responsibilities to be and what auditors believe their responsibilities entail is getting wider and wider. This gap is further accentuated by the hard stance and attitude of the regulatory bodies. An audit cannot verify 100 per cent of all documents and balances. If the auditor were to verify 100 per cent of sales and purchase invoices, delivery challans, gate passes, production records, journal vouchers, assets, liabilities and all records of the entity and consider all management representations as unworthy, it would require an army of