We don't overstate anything
But we're expected to find these thing. That's what we're paid to do.
Hang on a minute. Our job is to review the information provided to us by the management of a company. We have to assume that they're being honest. We're not police officers.
But
Let me finish. Look, there are legal mechanism to deal with people who commit fraud. The auditing profession has its own regulations and investors trust this. It's tried and tested.
All i'm saying is that investors have a right to rely on the financial information they read, and we're paid to check exactly that. Self-regulation may not be enough. And the trend is ...
I agree that it's a bit strange that we're paid by the same people who we audit, but it's always been this way and i don't see how that can be changed, do you?