GAO: mandatory audit rotation reforms should wait.

• Position: GAO News; General Accounting Office - Brief Article

After studying the impact of mandatory audit rotation outlined by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the GAO is asking Congress and federal regulators to delay potential rulemaking on the issue for several years.

The report found that the benefits of auditor rotation, in light of "additional financial costs and the loss of institutional knowledge of the public company's previous auditor of record, are harder to predict and quantify."

In short, the costs of auditor rotation will outweigh the benefits, and may not improve the quality...