[rwallace]

I am surprised! I always thought that was precisely their job. So if it's not, what is their job instead?

[howlgarnish]

Auditing is about legal compliance: it's an external verification that a company's books are drawn up according to prevailing requirements.

[rwallace]

So why exactly does anyone want that, if not as a subgoal of spotting fraud? (I mean, if the first link in the chain is "because that's what's necessary and sufficient to comply with the law" then why was the law written that way?)

[davidgay]

I would presume that the (not unreasonable) assumption is that "verification that a company's books are drawn up according to prevailing requirements." makes it harder to hide fraud.

[howlgarnish]

Because governments want to make sure companies are declaring all their earnings, so they can be taxed.