Business ethics, corporate governance and audit independence: a trilogy

Action is being taken against professional accounting firms, the most significant being that against Andersens for their role in the Enron collapse. This paper examines the issues of business ethics and audit independence in the light of recent changes to corporate govemance requirements in Australia and overseas and makes conunent on the teaching of business ethics in tertiary institutions. The implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in August 2002 and the Australian recommendation of Corporate Law Economic Reform Program, CLERP 9, are also considered.