As Fernandez and Gonzalez (2005) point out, better accounting and auditing systems that provide the regulators with more information about the real risk of bank assets cannot only increase the effectiveness of minimum capital requirements but also serve to guide disciplinary action imposed by supervisors on bank management in order to reduce instability. In contrast, an audit function that fails to adequately address important regulatory considerations exposes both bank shareholders and the public at large to unnecessary risk (Fields et al., 2004). For example, it has been argued that the poor quality of public disclosure and transparency, and inadequate accounting and auditing standards, have contributed to the occurrence of the Asian financial crisis (Goldstein, 1998; Chino, 1999; Shirai, 2001). For instance, Shirai (2001, p. 56) argues that