Are auditors a soft target?

Whipping the auditor because of its failure to meet the regulators' and public expectations will not improve the audit quality

Auditing is an age-old profession. In the early stages of the English East India Company, when it was operating as a purely commercial venture, a few shareholders used to conduct audit voluntarily on behalf of the shareholders. Although auditing has changed its form over the years, the basic objective remains the same. It is to provide an assurance to shareholders, particularly, non-controlling shareholders, lenders and other creditors that financial statements provide a true and fair view. Detection of fraud is not the primary objective of an audit. That is the objective of a forensic audit. 

The auditing profession introduces stricter auditing