The audit profession is at a turning point, facing shifting demands, opposition to the status quo and potential regulatory upheaval ahead. It has three major challenges on its hands: how to close the expectation gap, deal with an accounting framework which is inherently unreliable, and resolve market structure concerns.

For better or worse, the profession itself is not master of its own destiny in any of these debates, and to many the contributions it does make are seen as simultaneously self-serving and divisive. Should it keep quiet and wait for international regulators and legislators to come up with answers that it will have to implement?