What's behind the SEC's auditor independence warning? Auditors don't care about reputation risk anymore

Another question I get all the time: Professionalism and trust is the cornerstone of auditing! Would an auditor ever risk their reputation to collude with an unsavory client?

It’s a myth that the largest global audit firms will avoid doing anything that harms their reputation, and will police their own to make sure any professionals that bring shame on the profession by committing illegal and unethical acts are fired, not rewarded, and will never audit or give advice ever again.

In 1990, in the DiLeo v. Ernst & Young case re…