As a preliminary remark, in my opinion, an auditor public accountant is only doing what ought to be expected from him, if he does not confine himself to the audit of the company, but acts also as an adviser to management in the fields in which he is knowledgeable.
Since this idea was first promoted about 1930, it has become very common among Dutch public accountants. So much so, that most of the long form year end reports which are nowadays put before the Boards by Dutch accountants, contain one or more sections dealing with a general evaluation of the profit and loss analysis, financing problems, the quality of the accounting and management information systems, and other topics, depending on what is in the limelight for the firm. In many cases public accountants send notes to their clients during the year, in which they draw attention to whatever subject deserves management’s attention.