AUDITING the auditors

A one-stop registration process for auditors is just the start, of what CPAB and PCAOB hope will become a more integrated operation

Gordon Thiessen and William McDonough go back a long way. As two former central bankers, one Canadian, the other American, they have spent endless hours together working on international banking issues and along the way have forged a friendship.

And that's a good thing as Thiessen and McDonough are facing one of their toughest challenges yet - setting up, running and working on coordinating both the registration and the auditing of auditors under the auspices of Canada's and the US's new public accountability boards.

"Gordon and I are old …