The proposal assumed that certain types of non-audit
services impair auditor independence, such as internal
audit outsourcing as well as financial information systems
design and implementation. Public hearings were held in
September 2000 where large accounting firms generally
opposed the proposal (SEC, 2000b). The original proposal
was subsequently made significantly less restrictive
when the SEC re-drafted it on November 21, 2000
(SEC, 2000c). For example, under the new draft an
audit firm is still allowed to perform up to 40% (measured
in terms of hours) of an audit client’s internal audit
work. The re-drafted version was adopted and became
effective in February 2001 (SEC, 2000c).