On June 14, Accounting Today had an on-line piece by Jillian Rojas — "Auditors: Friends or Foes" — that was, putting it mildly, robustly critical of the model by which public company auditors are selected, compensated and motivated.

Believing that the issues raised by Rojas deserved some additional context, I offered my thoughts to editor Michael Cohn, who (with my thanks and appreciation) published them today — "In Defense of Auditors".

Readers here will recognize the breadth and scope of the challenging questions around the structure and suitability of the Big Audit model, as I have been addressing in this space and elsewhere for a dozen years, and recently in fuller detail in my book, "Count Down: The Past, Present and Uncertain Future of the Big Four Accounting Firms." I invite you to have a look at our exchange — and to offer your own reactions and ideas.

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