The aim of an audit is supposed to lend credibility to the financial statement of a company. The auditor is authorised to execute the ‘watchdog’ function to safeguard those who have an interest in the company.

However, the high level of negative publicity connected with the financial scandals of Transmile and Megan Media has left little doubt that the auditing profession in Malaysia is facing a credibility crisis.

It seems that what happened in 2007 may only be the tip of the iceberg because the auditing profession in Malaysia has again put under the spotlight following the case involving a public-listed company.

In early July, this local public-listed company removed its auditors and appointed a new party as its new auditors.

The reason behind such a removal was due to the fact that two shareholders of this public-listed company were supposedly dissatisfied with the conduct of the auditor in expressing a disclaimer opinion on the validity of a contract value.

The auditor refused to issue an amended audit accounts for the year ended December 2007.

This case demonstrates the fact that there is always a price that you have to pay to uphold the truth.

It is pretty obvious that since the auditor refused to follow the instructions of this paymaster, the consequence was they lost a client.

Someone who agrees to listen will get it. In short, never bite the hand that feeds you or else you will never be fed again.

Given the fact that we are living in a capitalist economy, providing an independent opinion on a financial statement and at the same time receiving fees from the same company is a practical challenge.

In regard to this issue, reminding auditors to maintain high professionalism and integrity is merely noise on the theoretical ground.

To overcome this problem, it is perhaps better to have an independent regulatory body to oversee audit appointments and payment of auditors.

This, I believe, will prevent companies from financially threatening their auditors. This, in turn, will help to improve the quality of auditing in Malaysia.