Author:  "Bill Major" 
Date:    09/21/2000  8:33 AM

Subject: 

Mr Levitt,
     
The possibility that auditors might be skimping on the their audit 
responsibilities, when there are big dollars at stake on consulting fees at the 
same time, makes one wonder just where the Auditing firms loyalty really lies. 
That is especially true when thier main goal is to supposedly to make sure the 
numbers they report are true, but those same numbers may conflict with thier own
self interest regarding that company.
Auditors often offer clients consulting services, yet at the same time the 
auditing of that same company's books are supposed to be unbiased as well as 
rigorously reported. The very action of putting the two together smacks of 
self-interest, when the Auditor stands to lose funds by reporting the real 
financial situation of a company. 
I feel the implimentation of such a rule as S7-13-00 would go along way in 
stopping what may end up being a fiasco if it is not nipped in the bud, before 
the practice gets entrenched too well.