The Audit Society Rituals of Verification [Hardcover]

Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. Why has this happened? This book is the first systematic exploration of audit as a principle of social organization and control. The author critically examines the reasons, means, and consequences of this audit explosion. He raises important questions about the efficacy of audit processes and suggests that the consequences of this must be carefully evaluated.

Introduction
Preface
1. The Audit Society: General Themes
2. The Rise of Audit
3. The Audit Explosion
4. Audit and the Dialectic of Regulatory Failure
5. Audit Knowledge and the Construction of Auditees
6. Beyond Audit, Towards Trust
Notes
Bibliography

Michael Poweris Professor of Accounting at the London School of Economics. He is a qualified accountant himself and has undertaken audit work for one of the major accounting firms.