Auditors of public companies are required to do much more than being another set of eyes. Auditors will look at sales receipts, invoices and even make a physical count of inventory. They need to see evidence.
CFOs can provide auditors their general version of financial accountability for non-audited financials, such as 10-Qs, which are compilations
Many times an auditor can turn to external sources for evidence, like vendors & distributors etc which look beyond what the CFO provides
No quality auditor is gonna run the risk of putting their signature over a 10-K without having done a thorough exam with documented evidence, especially for a dink company like Elite
Ive seen many 10-Ks withheld by auditors until certain documentation and proof was provided.