Auditors find themselves working side-by-side with the managers of the corporations they audit.
They must consider management to be the paying client for all non audit services and at the same time the focal point of their investigations and oversight responsibilities for their “independent” audit services.
At times it is a blur as to who is being served.
Auditors find themselves auditing client-firms whose managers are their former audit colleagues, perhaps the person from whom they took over the audit.
This does not excuse auditors for failing to be independent or for referring to the client’s management as “the client” when conducting an audit.
Requiring an audit for publicly owned companies only makes sense if auditors are independent of management.