The Auditor

Mervyn King consults and advises on corporate legal issues. He is recognised internationally as an expert on corporate governance and reporting. He sits as an arbitrator and as a mediator. He is a founding member of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa and for some eight years was the South African judge at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. He has acted as an Inspector of Companies and a Commissioner of Inquiries into the affairs of companies. He is a regular speaker on radio and television talk shows and ran his own television series, King on Governance. Linda de Beer is an independent non-executive director, serving on the boards of a number of listed companies. She provides reporting and corporate governance advice to various corporates, does mediation on technical reporting, auditing and corporate governance matters, facilitates training and performs expert witness work on these matters. She is an honorary professor (professor in practices) at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She previously chaired the Consultative Advisory Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and currently serves on the Investor Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the US.

List of tables; Foreword (Sir Mark Moody-Stuart); Acknowledgements; Acronyms and Glossary of Terms; Authors’ introductory note; Introduction; Part 1: The History of Audit; Chapter 1: History of Accounting and the Birth of the Loan Stock Company; Chapter 2: History of Auditing and the Birth of the Audit Profession; Chapter 3: The Statutory Role of Auditors; Chapter 4: The Audit Expectation Gap and the Role of Audit Regulation in Bridging the Gap; Part 2: The Threat – the Ability of the Audit Profession to Meet the Demands of the 21st Century in the Context of Auditor Responsibility and Liability; Chapter 5: The Era of Audit Regulation; Chapter 6: The Modern Day Role of Auditors; Chapter 7: Auditor Responsibility and Liability; Chapter 8: Regulatory Focus Areas Impacting Auditors; Chapter 9: Critical Success Factors of a Strong Audit Profession into the Future; Part 3: Addressing the Liability Threat – The Auditor Judgment Rule; Chapter 10: Damages for a Negligent Audit; Chapter 11: The Outcry for Limitation of Auditor Liability; Chapter 12: Directors’ Duties and the Business Judgment Rule; Chapter 13: The Auditor Judgment Rule; Part 4: In Conclusion; Reference list; Index