See Delaney and Gleim, Bisk, etc. They are both available here at the University. The reward is in the form of reduced cost of capital. Moreover, SEC registrants are required to have their financial statements audited. While private companies are not required to have audits they frequently do because of a loan agreement proviso, shareholder behest or the desire to reduce their interest cost.
Management makes certain implicit assertions about the information contained in the statements.
These include assertions about existence and occurrence of balances and transactions, and the valuation and completeness of that information. Auditors, both external and internal, are concerned about whether these assertions are materially correct. This course emphasizes the work of internal and external auditors as they perform financial statement audits and other forms of assurance. However, the concepts are applicable to any audit. Those of you expecting to become Franchise Tax or IRS auditors will find this course to be equally useful.