Academic research suggests that audit committee members with accounting expertise are associated with timelier financial reporting. One simple way of attaining accounting expertise onto audit committee is to recruit ex-audit firm partners onto the board of directors. However, appointing former audit partners to boards and audit committees raises independence concerns.

As per requirements of Section 324 CI of Corporation Act 2001, a retired audit partner must not take on a senior role in an audit client for two years from retiring. Nonetheless, extant audit literature provide evidence that financial reports are of higher quality when former audit partners are on the audit committee and raise doubts about the benefits of a rule limiting their recruitment.

Required:

Explain how theses accounting experts could help or hinder the audit process and thereby have an impact on the quality of a company's financial reports. (10 marks)