I agree with the writer on the necessity for audit and accountability. It's what the SEC regulated corporation's where to provide the stock market research analysts with prior to the information age's total capture of information dissemmenation. My interpretation of the article is that auditing it is even less effective in the public sector than the private sector. The media's highlighting of examples of lack of market discpinary actions I consider the begginning. The few companies they the media allowed be used as examples ie. Worldcom and Enron where really examples of failures of auditing companies...ie Aurthor Anderson etc. Of course they spit themselves in half years prior to breaking these stories and watching the culprits scramble. It makes one wonder about the intentions of those who watch over the big picture and the timing of when they believe enough is enough. I see the public sector always lagging behind the private sector when it comes to reforms for the good of stockholders. Whereas the Worldcom and Enron segments where small compared to the amount of stakeholders/stockholders involved, when you allude to our whole national audit system as in need of strengthing prior to the govt. undergoing a Enron style meltdown I almost worry... If the writer believes that the nation is in the same dilema, then infact the media publicized scandals should make for easy comparisons to the average citizen. It also will make for a good argument for a change in leadership. If only it was so simple to accomplish!! If it can be accomplished as it was when the light was brought to those companies which were gross examples of ethics failures. Then the responsibility also exited prior to the need now for change ever so suddenly. I agree however, even those responsible to bring light to the failures, should also be held accountable, why now what about prior to Enron or Worldcom. The media was ill equipped to cause systemic change in the values we as a country and apparently they too were assuming present at the elite levels of financial dealings. The complexity of those failures eluded the auditing firms in the private sector. Now those at the helms of the public sector are going to have to do what needs to be done for even less pay. It is only right because only those that truly care would endeavor to accomplish such a task and only because they have no stakes in the process except that their children and grandchildren will benefit from the sacrafices of those dedicated government servants who know all to well that it needs to be done. Some who will do it merely from necessity as they know that it has to be done regardless of who claims to be able to ride herd on the process which may or not have been caused by the shepards to begin with.