What role for auditors and listing exchanges?
A. As the two most critical and trusted advisors to market participants, both have continuing roles to carry on and expanding roles as well. Listing exchanges will continue to be active advisors to issuing companies at every step in their capital raising and shareholder relationship activities; and contract exchanges will increasingly be originating the hedging and risk management products used by these and other market participants. Public auditors should see their clients asking to provide their assurance role in both the certification of their legal identities and their hierarchical structures, and in the expanded use of XBRL reporting of reference data contained in legal documents. These documents are the source of all financial supply chain reference data for: establishing businesses; announcing financial events; creating tradable contracts; offering securities; and properly accounting for a firm’s legal entity hierarchies. This later activity is something auditors already have kn
