Accoutants' Liability to Third Parties

The legal relationships within the accounting profession are currently in a state of uncertainty caused by both internal and external forces. Due to fairly recent developments of the law widening the breadth and scope of its potential liability, the accounting profession, in an effort to more precisely define and clarify its moral and legal duties, "is deeply involved in a great debate over how precisely accounting principles should be defined and how rigidly enforced." Some spectacular lawsuits recently ". . . tend to reflect the growing responsibilities and hazards of the accounting profession in an age of increasingly complex international business."