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The auditor′s responsibility for detecting management fraud of a material nature is affirmed. Auditors are vulnerable to failure when they perform substantive procedures concerned with matters such as asset valuation. Some auditors have tended to “audit to” management representations, a phenomenon known as anchoring to statisticians. Yet, the technology has become available for an independent approach to audit verification of management judgements and estimates; public on‐line databases will play an important role in helping the auditor to understand the client, and to validate individual accounts.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has been Congress’ long‐serving auditor, issuing reports designed to improve the operations of government agencies and to enhance their cost effectiveness. In order to do this effectively, it must have unrestricted access to records. The GAO, in response to a request from two congressmen, sought access to records and names of attendees at an energy planning group meeting held in 2001. Access was denied by Vice President Cheney. The GAO then brought a suit to secure access. The suit was dismissed by District Circuit Judge Bates and the Comptroller General decided not to appeal. At this time the GAO's continuation as a super audit agency appeared highly uncertain, resulting in an emasculation of Congress’s powers.

Changes of focus and of time‐frame are taking audit in a new direction, towards a prospective, preventative service. Examples, drawn especially from the construction sector, illustrate the planning approach this entails, particular techniques which can be applied and the different emphasis this imparts to compliance audit.

Auditors are urged to promote communication with audit committees as well as with the entire board. Contacts with the entire board are most appropriate, given the rise of issues of corporate governance. It is not yet understood how effective audit committees have actually been, although the committees’ objectives are commendable. It is likely that any significant shortcomings will be redressed by synthesizing the work of the committees and of the board. The responsibilities of audit committees will be broadened, especially with respect to new practice areas, some of which involve proactive audit approaches. The qualifications for audit committee membership require upgrading; a need exists for practical accommodation between independence, on the one hand, and the tight market for qualified committee members, on the other.

The paper conveys selected Islamic perspectives on business ethics to encourage debate on the subject in the USA. The objective is to better prepare American businessmen for the ongoing shifts to global management. The regulatory climate that is currently arising is linked to the ascendancy of international accounting standards relative to the USA's generally accepted accounting principles. Islamic ethicists are seeking to install a climate of high level ethics and to weed out forbidden transactions. The revival of Muslim interest in accounting marks a revival of a historic pattern which is thought to have anticipated the rise of bookkeeping in the West. Also, there is a current tendency in Islamic states toward a unified political and economic system likely to affect international trade, hopefully with beneficial results for the USA.

The current wave of privatization, abroad more aptly referred to as denationalization, has achieved decidedly mixed results. Performance shortfalls have been fostered by operational weaknesses in the nature of the denationalization process, and by structural deficiencies which impede the performance of particular tasks. Argues that it is likely that part of the cure lies in the involvement of auditors on a proactive basis, that is before significant commitments have been made. Further, Western‐trained auditors should be well equipped to strengthen the model of the process, to select efficient and effective means of accomplishing tasks, and to oversee the carrying out of the programme.

The chapter provides a practical guide to identify and define different funding sources for entrepreneurial and innovation endeavors, including a methodology to describe return on investment expectations from funding sources. Also, the authors provide recommended key performance indicators and valuation methods when pitching to potential investors.

The long controversy that has waxed furiously around the implementation of the EEC Directives on the inspection of poultry meat and hygiene standards to be observed in poultry slaughterhouses, cutting‐up premises, &c, appears to be resolved at last. (The Prayer lodged against the Regulations when they were formally laid before Parliament just before the summer recess, which meant they would have to be debated when the House reassembled, could have resulted in some delay to the early operative dates, but little chance of the main proposals being changed.) The controversy began as soon as the EEC draft directive was published and has continued from the Directive of 1971 with 1975 amendments. There has been long and painstaking study of problems by the Ministry with all interested parties; enforcement was not the least of these. The expansion and growth of the poultry meat industry in the past decade has been tremendous and the constitution of what is virtually a new service, within the framework of general food inspection, was inevitable. None will question the need for efficient inspection or improved and higher standards of hygiene, but the extent of the