External Financial Audits are an independent appraisal of an organization's accounting, financial, and operational systems. Unfortunately, flaws in the auditing process played a major role in the downfall of Enron and several other major firms. The problem can be attributed in part auditing group's facing problems with conflicts of interest and eventually losing their objectivity. For instance, Enron was such an important client for its auditing firm, Arthur Anderson, that the auditors started letting the firm take liberties with its accounting systems for fear that, if they were too strict, Enron might take its business to another auditing firm. How can these conflicts of interest be avoided?