AUDITORS PENALISED

Evening Star, Issue 21904, 15 December 1934, Page 21

AUDITORS PENALISED

RESENTMENT OF DIRECTORS “It is more than a matter of protection of the accountancy profession; it is a case for protection of tho public,” said Mr P. B. Foote (Timaru), at a recent meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, in reference to two complaints against members of the society who had accepted appointment as auditors without consulting the retiring auditors, as they should have done in accordance with the code of ethics. . In one of these cases it was reported that the retiring auditor had not been reappointed because, acting on strict auditing principles, he had issued a report which was not acceptable to some of the shareholders "in tho company concerned. The audi*or submitted that he was penalised for a conscientious performance, of his duty, but his successor had accepted the appointment without consulting him. Mr M. S. Spence (Napier) remarked that his firm had recently had an _ auditing engagement terminated because it had put in a qualified report on the balance-sheet. It was decided to lodge a formal complaint against tho person concerned in one of the cases. He will be obliged to come up from the South Island to Wellington, where the case will be heard by the society’s executive. Reports from England indicate the growth of a powerful body of opinion in favour of -a strengthening of the position of auditors in the public interest.