Issues of corporate governance generate media headlines as well as more profound debate. The devastating effects of recent corporate misbehaviour have kept governance issues in the spotlight. Auditors' independence has been called into question in the light of their being complicit in some of the corporate misbehaviour exposed in recent years. In Auditor Independence, Ismail Adelopo argues that the importance of auditors' independence cannot be over-emphasised. Not only do auditors provide certification of the truth and fairness of the information prepared by managers, they also have a duty to express opinions on the degree of compliance with laws and regulations guiding a firm's operations. Theirs is a socially important responsibility. In all that has been proposed to mitigate the governance crisis and restore confidence in the market system, relatively little attention has been paid to auditor independence. Examining the historical role of auditing in corporate governance and the regulatory context, this book sets the function within a theoretical framework and then provides empirical analysis of the problem issues such as the relationship between audit committees and external auditors and the probity of providing non-auditing services to audit clients.By focusing on matters that are damaging to market confidence and threatening to the reputation of the auditing profession, the conclusions and recommendations in this book are important for key stakeholders including policy makers, regulators, those running companies, their investors and customers, as well as those responsible for training in the auditing profession and for other researchers and academics.