A person or accountancy firm employed to check the accounts of a company, private trader, or association. Auditors check whether accounts are complete and consistent, and whether they are in agreement with other records of purchases, sales, and inventories. They may certify that accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ of a company’s finances, or they can ‘qualify’ them, that is, add adverse comments. The auditors of UK companies are elected by the annual general meetings of the companies’ shareholders, and are required to be professionally qualified accountants. Other bodies such as charities are required to have their accounts audited, but their auditors are often unpaid. Many companies and other organizations also employ internal auditors, to check on the accuracy and completeness of the firms’ internal bookkeeping, as a safeguard against both fraud and confusion in accounting.