In November 2012, a partner in PwC was suspended for two and a half years from being a company auditor because of breaches of the accounting standards in the accounts of the Centro Property Group - one of their public company clients (King, Australian Financial Review, 2012, p.7). The class action resulted in a payout of $200 million of which $67 million was attributed to PwC. The case also referred to the importance of directors having an understanding of accounting standards and serves to illustrate the commercial risks to audit firms involved in public practice and the potential serious consequences if it can be proven in the Courts that auditing and standards were not followed. As such, auditor liability is an important part of the study of auditing