Some outside auditors erred in trying too hard to please an important client, to the point of engaging in criminal conduct. They seem to have lost sight of their professional role of assuring users of financial reports that the statements fairly represent the condition of the corporation and of the fact that reports should communicate, not conceal, the level of risk.
Some observers have asserted that new accounting standards--or, as I have  BIS Review 63/2002  3  discussed, a principles-based method of setting standards--are needed. In some ways that may be true.