And big accounting firms will refuse to audit financial statements if the company or creditors fail to provide data.

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The independent external auditor is a licensed professional who works for a public accounting firm and performs an audit of the financial statements of a company, government, individual, or any other legal entity or organization.

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The Groupon-Facebook dichotomy, in which one accounting firm was responsible for two dramatically different approaches to GAAP, demonstrates the need for actual people at accounting firms taking personal as well as corporate responsibility for the financial statements that they audit.

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Several audit firm professionals tried to convince the SEC and PCAOB staff that they were mistaken in the belief that broker-dealer auditors could not sign the broker-dealer audit opinion as well as help implement accounting software, prepare period-end journal entries and compile those same financial statements and regulatory reports that they would audit.

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Most of the other global accounting firms have also separated their consulting arms from their audit divisions in an attempt to restore confidence in audited financial statements.

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