Companies in the volatile construction business and those on the leading edge of technology might also face higher audit fees or no audits at all, says another big-four partner.
No one would doubt anymore that some executives and audit firms had been self-serving and active, rather than passive, actors in this economic tragedy.
He added that the board's internal audit - which looked at a sample of statistics - found no evidence of "deliberate instructions" being given to members of staff regarding the "inappropriate use of waiting times codes".
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made it very clear that audit clients were no longer supposed to utilize their audit firm as the accounting technical advisor.