Audit, Accountability and An Auditor's Ethical Dilemma: A Case Study of HIH Insurance

The auditing profession has been an important feature of industrialized economies for many years. The manner in which the auditing profession is regulated in the insurance industry, therefore, is worthy of investigation in light of the recent collapse of Heath International Holdings (HIH) which is currently recorded as the biggest corporate collapse in Australia's history. Two questions remain: did the HIH auditors carry out the work ethically and responsibly? Did the regulators fulfill their responsible roles? Among all factors that have led to the collapse of HIH, that of the auditor's role and the auditing profession's ethics has assumed particular importance.