Audit is performed by an auditor in an organization during a specified financial period who leads that organization. The main objective in requesting an audit be performed in an organization is to evaluate whether the financial information provided by the organization complies with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Auditors are independent professionals in the field of accounting and auditing and an organization should ensure that its auditors have no other interests with the organization or its stakeholders. At the end of an audit process, an auditor is expected to express an opinion based on the assessment carried out. The auditor is expected to make assertions and warranties in addition to the client's assertion. There is a difference between review and audit of financial information due to the level of assurance. An audit provides a higher level of assurance on the financial statements than the review of the financial statements. Furthermore, during an audit the auditor is required to provide a high level of evidence to support the assurance of the report, whereas in a review less evidence is required. An audit is much more comprehensive in scope than reviews, thus providing sufficient information required by users of financial statements in making decisions. The audit is prepared and conducted annually while the review is conducted quarterly or mainly when necessary. Ernst & Whinney's failure to conduct an audit and choose an audit therefore resulted in the above differences. It is clear that the audit was not comprehensive to provide sufficient information about ZZZZ Best Company's financial statements. It can be argued that Ernst & Whinney wanted to go into the deeper details of ZZZZ Best Company due to the numerous complicities… halfway through the document…). When an auditor is not independent due to client involvement decisions, the audit opinion will further suffer. This is because the auditor did not carry out the audit as required and therefore the opinion he might have expressed whilst independent is not the same as the opinion he might have expressed if influenced by the client. The professional standards do not include pre-audit but post-year press release requirements. However, it is important that clients allow reviewers to review the release before publishing it in print. ReferencesBeasley, Kevin H. and Roger Hussey. (1997). The audit status of the preliminary profit announcement. Journal of Management Control, Vol. 12 Number 3.Knapp, Michael. (2008). Contemporary Auditing: Real-World Problems and Cases, 7th Edition, Cengage Learning. Knechel, Psalter & Ballou (2007). Audit: Assurance & Risk, 3rd EdThompson South-Western.