The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Wed, 27 May 2026 15:57:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Auditing in the Decade Ahead: Challenge and Change – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Auditing in the Decade Ahead: Challenge and Change https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2012/01/08/auditing-in-the-decade-ahead-challenge-and-change/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=auditing-in-the-decade-ahead-challenge-and-change https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2012/01/08/auditing-in-the-decade-ahead-challenge-and-change/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:03:21 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/?p=24763?d=20120108100321EST Editor’s Note: James R. Doty is Chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This post is based on Chairman Doty’s remarks before the Canadian Public Accountability Board’s Audit Quality Symposium, which are available here. The views expressed in the post are those of Chairman Doty and should not be attributed to the PCAOB as a whole or any other members or staff.

I will discuss some common themes pervading the regulation of audits, regardless of what country you are in. Certain structural challenges threaten the relevance of auditing. These threats rise at a time when confidence in business reporting is more important than ever. We are also affected by geopolitical forces that threaten both the regulation of audits as well as the audits themselves.

I do not believe any of these challenges, or the threats accompanying them, are insurmountable. But they must be confronted. I do believe overcoming them will require concerted, collective commitment and action.

I. Auditor Skepticism is the Foundation for Investor Confidence in Financial Reporting.

I want to begin with the motivating idea for this conference. A prolonged global financial crisis continues to jeopardize economies everywhere: in the Americas, in Europe, in Australia and Asia. Our people have a shared agenda to restore hope in their futures. Our families have shared agendas to be assured they have the resources to maintain their homes, rear their children with confidence in their ability to prosper, and provide for elders with dignity and respect for the achievements of their generations.

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