Companies fret about auditor-held information

The New York Times notes that more companies are worried that the information their auditors amass in the course of audits will somehow become public--to be used against them. In one suit recently, a company was asked to hand over auditing records. The fear is that such information could open up a whole hornets nests--suits and regulatory actions. Not to mention embarrassment. It's fair to say that auditors are asking for more information than ever. In general, the legal protection of auditor-client communications is much weaker than that of lawyer-client privilege. According to the Times, roughly 30 states have auditor-client privilege laws, and few federal courts have addressed it. All this is certainly making more companies loath having to hand over information willy-nilly to auditors. Some are pondering solutions that would limit what they would have to turn over.  

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- here's the article