The study looked at how corporate collapse, often caused by unclear financial reporting, led to reforms to improve how audits are conducted in Australia. These changes, called CLERP 9 reforms in 2004, aimed to enhance the independence of auditors and their practices. By analyzing data before and after these reforms, the researchers found little evidence that the CLERP 9 changes succeeded in making auditors more independent or improving auditing overall. They cast doubt on whether lack of auditor independence actually causes audit failures in practice.