Five common auditor defenses when charges of negilence are brought against auditors include

- No responsibility to plaintiff

- Lack of reliance by the plaintiff

- Auditor exercise of due diligence

- Lack of auditor intent to defraud

- Contributory negligence by management In actuality, most lawsuits brought against auditors are settled out of court because of the difficulties associated with winning a case using one of these defenses (and the high costs of taking a case to trial -both in terms of actual costs and reputational loss). Help auditors overcome this problem by arguing how they might be more successful in winning lawsuits using each of the defenses.