Can Professionalism and Commercialism Coexist?

The Beat Goes On

Vincent J. Love, CPA/CFF, CFE

In his April 2015 letter to the editor about my article “Professionalism and Commercialism: Can They Coexist?” published in the February 2015 CPA Journal, Yigal Rechtman suggests that the only real threat to independence that exists is the audited firm's paying for the audit. He suggests another avenue to resolve this audit fee independence issue. The suggestion is to form a private organization of auditors to act in a similar manner as the PCAOB. This organization would “promote itself as marketplace where only a reasonable compensation fee exists.” This organization would appoint the auditor and set the fee. Since auditors would be paid indirectly for what he terms a ‘reasonable fee,’ it would not impact their receiving fees for non-attest services from a client.