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2 （a） Importance of independence
The auditor must be materially independent of the client for the following reasons：
To increase credibility and to underpin confidence in the process. In an external audit，this will primarily be for the benefit of the shareholders and in an internal audit，it will often be for the audit committee that is，in turn，the recipient of the internal audit report.
To ensure the reliability of the audit report. Any evidence of lack of independence （or ‘capture’）has the potential to undermine all or part of the audit report thus rendering the exercise flawed.
To ensure the effectiveness of the investigation of the process being audited. An audit，by definition，is only effective as a means of interrogation if the parties are independent of each other.
Three threats to independence
There are three threats to independence described in the case.
The same audit partner （Zachary） was assigned to Van Buren in eight consecutive years. This is an association threat and is a contravention of some corporate governance codes. Both Sarbanes-Oxley and the Smith Guidance （contained in the UK Combined Code），for example，specify auditor rotation to avoid association threat.
Fillmore Pierce provides more than one service to the same client. One of the threats to independence identified between Arthur Andersen and Enron after the Enron collapse was an over-dependence on Enron by Andersen arising from the provision of several services to the same client. Good practice is not to offer additional services to audit clients to avoid the appearance of compromised independence. Some corporate governance codes formally prohibit this.
The audit partner （Zachary） is an old friend of the financial director of Van Buren （Frank）.This ‘familiarity’ threat should be declared to Fillmore Pierce at the outset and it may disqualify Zachary from acting as audit partner on the Van Buren account.
