Due to several events, the public and legislators began to doubt the ability of the accounting profession to self-regulate. As a result, Congress reformed the accounting professions system used for regulating itself.

Checklist:

1. Visit the Library (access in the course home area) to research the accounting system of self-regulation. Describe at least one major historical event in the business world that occurred in the past 20 years and discuss how this affected todays accounting system of self-regulation.
2. Describe the legislation that altered the self-regulation process of the accounting profession. Additionally, describe how an auditors personal and professional experience could influence the workplace culture.
3. Describe the regulation process for accounting firms that audit (a) public companies and (b) nonpublic companies.
4. Describe how this new self-regulation process would affect you as an auditor working for a large public accounting firm today. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of self-regulation in the accounting profession as a result of the historical events you described.