When companies collapse shortly after receiving a clean audit opinion, the same question always follows: where were the auditors? But audit failure rarely begins at the moment the opinion is signed.

In this episode of Financial Reporting Conversations, Wayne Basford and Judith Leung unpack how audit failures quietly develop through a cascade of decisions made throughout the audit process from client acceptance and understanding the business to risk assessment, audit procedures, and failures in professional skepticism.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why audit failures often begin long before sign-off
• How poor client acceptance decisions affect audit quality
• Why understanding the business drives risk assessment
• How “filing exercises” replace genuine auditing
• Why contradictory audit evidence is often ignored
• How audit failure becomes a cascade of decisions

Financial Reporting Conversations is brought to you by Basford Consulting helping professionals go beyond compliance and get financial reporting right.

For technical insights, training, and resources that make the unknowns in financial reporting known, visit basfordconsulting.com

🔗 Connect with us:
LinkedIn: Wayne Basford & Judith Leung
YouTube: @BasfordConsulting
Website: basfordconsulting.com