"SEC charges Hertzs former CEO with aiding financial reporting violations." The article discusses former Hertz CEO, Mark Frissora's participation in "aiding and abetting the company in its filing of inaccurate financial statements and disclosures" (Freedman, 2020). According to the author, during the year of 2013, Mark Frissora allegedly pressured employees to misstate financial information such as its depreciation expenses and earnings projections in an effort to inflate its financial performance. Additionally, the Hertz CEO was also found in violation of Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as he failed to pay back the substantial amount of incentive based compensation that he received.

In circumstances such as this one, auditors should respond to such deficiencies by testing controls and performing analytical and/or substantive procedures to determine how/why such deficiencies exist. When information regarding transactions and account balances are inconsistent with the financial statements, it is an auditor's responsibility to investigate the differences, find supporting evidence that substantiates them, and judge whether they exist due to error or fraud.