Abstract:

The Accounting profession is one that is hinged on trust and public confidence. Accountants have a duty to stakeholders to present the true position of financials. Furthermore, accountants who ought to be the custodians of integrity and fairness have suddenly become derelict in their primary responsibility and are now perpetrators of corporate fraud and malpractices. This was prevalent in the early 2000s when corporate giants including Tyco, Enron, Adelphia Communications and WorldCom were involved in corporate fraud. Arthur Andersen, one of the then big five audit firms, was identified as being directly connected to the collapse of Enron. This invariably brought the accounting profession under the watchful eyes of the general public on the possibility of reliance on financial statements.