ABSTRACT
Auditing has come recently to play an important role in the processes through which attempts are made to make institutional management accountable to a wider range of constituencies than has been usual in thP past. Growing out of the early efforts to establish reliable information flows between management and the providers of investment finance, the audit function is called upon to serve an ever expanding number of social roles. Although it developed rapidly during the emergence of the modern form of corporate structure, auditing still remains under pressure to adapt to new institutional forms, information processing technologies and changing social pressures. It is not and cannot be a static social endeavour. Indeed, today efforts are being made to extend the roles which auditing plays in the public sector and, in both the public and private sectors, to increase the number of social groups on behalf of whom audits are conducted.
