The provlems experienced by Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers apparently stemmed from unfamiliarity with the profession's auditor independence rules. In the late 1990s, a top SEC official revealed that personnel from the large international accounting firms frequently contacted the federal agency to inquire about its most basic ethical rules for independent auditors. According to this official, these inquiries commonly included questions regarding "such fundamental issues as the prohibition against owning stock in companies they audit