Introduction: High-profile corporate failures that occurred at the beginning of this century have raised concern about the reliability of companies' financial statements. While the primary responsibility for preparing accurate financial statements rests with company management and boards, questions also have been raised about the quality and independence of external auditors. Regulators and standard setters have attempted to enhance audit quality through rules impacting on auditor independence (For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)...