Under Auditing Standard 5, passed in mid-2007, theauditof internal control over financial reporting is now integrated with theauditofthefinancialstatements.
The independent external auditor is a licensed professional who works for a public accounting firm and performs an auditofthefinancialstatementsof a company, government, individual, or any other legal entity or organization.
During the last four years, Deloitte has issued non-qualified audit opinions on thefinancialstatements, in spite of ongoing material weaknesses in internal controls over their financial reporting.
Those companies would have otherwise experienced the ignominy of admitting that a non-independent audit firm had attested to prior-filed financialstatements.