Has the accounting profession recovered from scandals and financial shenanigans. The opinions are mixed and it's not quite a clean bill of health, according to some of the profession's thought leaders . Some great points are made here.

Consider the following from securities lawyer, Melvyn Weiss:

""A return to consulting-centric accounting practices could reverse the forward progress achieved in the last few years ... Lack of independence has been at the heart of the audit profession's failures. Rite Aid, Waste Management, Enron and Xerox are only some examples of audit failures caused in part by a lack of independence. Also, the SEC is privately discussing the possibility of relaxing rules put in place two years ago to improve audits. Any moves away from an audit firm's purpose of detecting and preventing fraud will undermine the progress achieved in the last few years and further tarnish the profession's image. Another aggravating factor is the growing global nature of business. No real progress has been made in creating international accounting and Auditing standards. As the top forensic accountant at a leading major accounting firm recently stated, he can, with a staff of two and one week's time, find a major accounting flaw or internal controls problem in virtually every foreign public company."

Or as Mark Tibergien, Principal, Moss Adams, puts it: "The accounting profession has made great strides, but it has not completely moved beyond the scandals. Big Four firms continue to get mentioned in a negative light, and anytime there is another corporate scandal like Tyco, it is referred to as an 'accounting fraud' rather than 'management fraud.' But beyond the taint associated with Enron-type events, it doesn't appear that the profession has capitalized well on its role as most trusted advisor in that many in the profession are still far too passive or reactive in how they serve clients."

And a few of them make the point that KPMG's recent trouble with dodgy tax shelters has not helped the situation. Clearly, the profession has a long way to go to repair the damage.