Auditing

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Federal bank and thrift regulators issue revised guidance, Interagency Policy Statement on the Internal Audit Function and Its Outsourcing, prohibiting both public companies and depository institutions with $500 million or more in assets from outsourcing internal audit functions to their external auditors. The new requirements ( www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2003/pr2403.html ), issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, reflect auditor independence provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The statement also encourages compliance by nonpublic institutions not subject to federal audit and reporting requirements.