ABSTRACT
This chapter sums up our findings: the conflict waiver does not solve the ‘insufficient numbers’ issue; sharing resources with the mid-tier firms does not overcome the size issue; joint audits are higher cost and audit quality may suffer. We modelled the waiver and it performed less well than the relaxation of the blacklist, while neither solve the long-term ‘insufficient numbers’ problem. The ‘audit only’ or Big Eight are good solutions for choice but have international network issues. The permanent solutions to the ‘insufficient numbers’ problem do not lead to a much greater degree of independence or better audit quality, although scale fees and independent auditor selection would help. Audit failures are often caused by insufficient audit evidence, and/or insufficient professional scepticism. Increasing choice is not enough alone, greater independence between the entity being audited and the auditors is necessary for a step-increase in audit quality.
