Accessibility help Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

The Big Flaw: Auditing in Crisis

The ‘Big Four’ accounting firms have been hit by scandal after scandal. Regulators, investors and the wider public have lost confidence in the audit market. The FT examines what has gone wrong with accounting - and what might restore faith in the profession

© Bill Butcher

A return to prudence: how to restore faith in accounting
Auditing needs to recover the idea of providing a ‘true and fair’ picture of companies
A dangerous dance: when auditors are too close to the client
Firms can be too focused on pleasing customers who are also a source of consulting income
Too close for comfort: the incestuous ties that bind auditors and watchdogs
Concerns that audit market is too beholden to the clients whose numbers it vets
An illusion of choice: the conflicts that mire the audit world
Most listed US and British groups use one of the Big Four, with issues discreetly hidden
The big flaw: auditing in crisis
FT series: with a cabal of auditors dominating the market and chiefs making most of the system of ‘fair value’, what can the industry do to raise standards?
Reform accounting rules to restore trust in audit
Prudence and judgment were lost in the drive to fair value standards
Big Four scandals highlight a lack of social utility
A series of issues around the world shows all too clearly that auditing has become flabby