A Future CPA Wants to Know

As a recent entrant into the accounting field, I do not write as an expert but as an eager student.

With all the Enron trouble and other scandals triggering Sarbanes-Oxley and various other reforms, why is there no requirement by the SEC or other corporate governance mechanism that public companies engage more than one competing CPA firm in the issuance of the audit report? This seems to make the most sense to ensure an adequate system of checks and balances. Perhaps there should be a primary auditor to perform the audit and a secondary auditor, a competitor, to approve the working papers and final audit report. It seems the accounting profession needs to expand its current system of peer review. Aren’t checks and balances in order here?

Barth Jones
Pittsburgh