Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the accounting industry and the SEC arrived at a compromise. That's just what Tom Gardner, who testified before the SEC in September, hoped for. This disclosure is not currently required. It should be. A complete, detailed disclosure would give investors the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not accompanying commercial relations were impacting the purity of the audit.
Nobody knows for sure.
But what is clear is that these rules, along with recently adopted rules relating to selective disclosure, continue to help put investors in control by giving them the information they need to make well-informed investment decisions. The Motley Fool. All rights reserved.