What can be done to enhance auditor independence? Although the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 included a number of provisions intended to address auditor independence, their substantive impact will be modest.
In addition to the new oversight board, the Act addresses both audit staff rotation and non audit services.
However, the new five-year staff rotation rule is only a modest improvement over the old seven-year rule and will be just as ineffective.
To meet the seven-year rule the lead audit partner would be rotated off in the seventh year and then rotate back onto the engagement in the eighth year.
Such behavior points out how ineffective any legislation is without a spirit of coopera-
tion.
The new act also includes some modest additional restrictions on nonaudit services.
Even before the Act passed, several of the big CPA firms realized large gains from the sale of their consulting units.
However, this did not end their consulting activities.
Recent evidence shows consulting continues to dominate audit revenues of the major CPA firms.