1) Describe the unethical acrions of Susan Birkert. 2) Compare and contrast the ideas of independence in fact and independence in appearance in the context in this case. 3) Do you think that Susan's punishment were appropriate?Explain your answer. Please help. Please don't copy and paste someone else post. Will give thumbs up. Thanks.

Why It Matters Does Owning Stock in an Auditor Independence? This feature provides an interesting example of an audit senior violat- ing auditor independence rules. In 2005, Susan Birkert was an audit senior working for KPMG on the audit engagement of Comtech Corporation. One of Susan's friends asked her whether she thought that Comtech stock was a good investment. She responded that, indeed, it was a good investment. At that point, her friend asked if she would like him to purchase Comtech stock on her behalf. She agreed and gave her friend $5,000 to make the purchase under his name rather than hers. She did so because she was aware that owning stock in one's audit client is not allowed because of independence concerns. If auditors own stock in their audit clients, they are not independent of their clients because they are part owners. Therefore, rather than acting in an unbiased manner during the conduct of the audit, they might make judgments that favor the client company rather than external users of the financial state- ments. Even if the auditor does not actually behave in a biased manner and is independent in fact, external users may perceive an independence conflict-the auditor would not be independent in appearance. Susan continued working on the Comtech engagement well into 2006, and she lied when she responded to KPMG's yearly writ- ten requirements to comply with the firm's independence policies. Prompted by an anonymous tip later in 2006, KPMG launched an internal investigation into the matter and terminated her employ- ment. The PCAOB barred her from serving as an external auditor for a period of at least one year. For further details, see PCAOB Release No. 105-2007-003. matters, management and the audit committee expect cost-effective audits. Audi- tors face many pressures-keeping fees low, making careful decisions regarding