A final major implication of the HP/Autonomy case is that it presents telling evidence
of how differences in accounting and auditing standards, even when the audit is performed
by the purportedly highest quality audit firms, may result in untoward results. Auditors in
different nations, even though they belong to the same global audit firm may pursue their
professional responsibilities in adherence to their respective standards and regulations, but
the combination of different approaches, could fail to achieve a high-quality end result.
Therefore, it becomes critical to have some type of overall cross-country control if audited
reports are to be meaningful to all potential stakeholders. We discuss this issue in the next
section.