AUDITING DEVELOPMENTIn recent years, the integrity of the auditing profession has been called into question, particularly in the case of auditor independence. Perhaps the most spectacular of these was the Enron-Andersen scandal, which saw the collapse of auditing giant Arthur Andersen and sent tremors through the auditing industry. In 2001, Andersen was the fifth largest auditing firm in the world and had a reputation for exceptional audit integrity. based on a history of approximately 100 years of activity. On the other hand, by the end of 2002, it had practically disappeared from the audit radar. Warning signs have been clearly raised regarding the quality of audits carried out at Andersen; the company was involved in lawsuits involving two other clients, Waste Management and Sunbeam in 2001. Andersen was also in charge of the audit of WorldCom, another major scandal that raised questions about auditor independence. particularly their actions in shredding documents and deleting thousands of emails, including documents relating to Enron's engagement prior to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investigation into Enron, which was to lead to his downfall. The industry could not allow such blatant disregard for auditor independence to go unpunished and Andersen was barred from running and reporting on SEC-registered companies, effectively ending his practice of audit. (Soltani, 2007, pp. 556-562) While the Enron/Andersen scandal was linked to the definitive action taken by Andersen in conspiring with Enron, a later scandal involving HealthSouth Corporation and Ernst & Young raised other issues of independence of auditors. Once again, issues emerged regarding auditor independence, this time when a risk-based audit approach was adopted. HealthSouth's fraudulent activity was conducted in the area of ​​contractual adjustments, and while Ernst & Young conducted "analytical-type procedures" in this area, HealthSouth management knew that auditors were not examining lower increases to $5,000 and therefore retained the balance sheet entries. below this level. Ernst & Young's admission that they were aware that management was aware of this criterion and did not adjust their procedures accordingly has raised questions about the integrity of the audit. Additionally, when planning the audit, Ernst & Young met with company executives and took them at their word when they said they were not aware of any instances of fraud. Their planning documents stated that the HealthSouth system for generating financial information was reliable and that its management was ethical...