Date of Award
2021
Department
Accountancy
First Advisor
Donald J. Dailey
Second Advisor
Dr. Mark Sheldon
Abstract
The purpose of this research project is to examine the regulatory environments of both the United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.) and to further compare and contrast the two. This comes in recent light of the prominent topic of the Big Four public accounting firms (i.e., Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers) being called to separate their audit practices from their other lines of service over independence concerns within the U.K. At the time of the creation of this project’s focus, there had been public outcry for this action to take form after numerous audit failures, which came to fruition in July of 2020. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which governs the accounting industry within the U.K., has ordered the Big Four to separate their audit practices from the rest of the firms by June of 2024. How did the firms get to this point? Should the U.K. look at the profession’s response to the collapse of Enron in the U.S. as a model or guide on how to navigate the current climate and obstacles that they face over the next few years?
Recommended Citation
Hardner, Nicholas, "The Push for Independence: A Closer Look at the United States and United Kingdom Regulatory Environments" (2021). Senior Honors Projects. 123.
https://collected.jcu.edu/honorspapers/123
Creative Commons License
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