Date:    09/19/2000  12:58 PM

Subject: Auditor Independence Proposed Rules

I am a CPA who has spent most of my career in controllership positions in a 
fortune 500 company.  I am in favor of any rule that would divorce the audit 
function from all other functions performed by CPA firms.  In the CPA firms' 
effort to expand their market base by providing all sorts of accounting and 
non-accounting services to companies governed by SEC rules, they have become 
virtual employees of the companies they provide audit services for.  I 
suspect that non-audit income received by CPA firms from some clients 
exceeds the income from audit services to those same clients.  This creates 
a SERIOUS independence problem.  These CPA firms risk losing a significant 
amount of income from non-audit sources if they issue a less than favorable 
audit report.  Please register my comments as favoring the proposed rules.
     
Thanks,
     
Hugh F. Davis, CPA
PO Box 2061  Zip 72811  (Office - USPS Only)
3811 South Arkansas Avenue  Zip 72802 (Office - No USPS) 
Russellville, AR