In the current turbulent audit environment financial market regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the World Bank,' the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), as well as national governmental bodies, seem to be concerned that auditors are becoming less interested in financial statement audits with the prospects for growth more pronounced in other assurance areas. Therefore, regulators may try to keep auditors exclusively in the "financial statement audit box" to circumvent concerns about auditor independence and an erosion of the effectiveness of financial audits