One alternative to mandatory rotation is to compensate auditors from a pool of funds that
the government controls. The funds could be generated by a tax assessment on all audited
companies or on their securities transactions (Commission, 1978, p.1 05). The hope behind this
alternative is that since the companies will no longer compensate their auditors, they will no
longer be able to pressure the auditors to render a satisfactory opinion.
One of the main objections to this argument was that if management still had the power
to change auditors, then it did not matter who was in charge of compensation. However, now that
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has given the power to change auditors to audit committees, this
argument is no longer justified.
Another objection to compensating from a pool of funds is that the fees that companies
have to pay give them an incentive to improve the quality of their internal accounting controls so
that they can save on audit costs. Internal controls are important because they produce accurate
and reliable financial information (Commission, 1978, p.l 05-1 06). This very well could be an
incentive to companies' improving their accounting systems, but disappointing investors and the
audit committee with unsatisfactory audit opinions is also an incentive for companies to
continually improve their accounting systems.