Answer
Independence means that the auditor should not subordinate his judgement to that of the client or anyone else. In any auditing situation, be it independent financial audit, internal audit, cost audit and so on the auditor must be independent. It is basically a state of mind. It is, therefore, important that the auditor should not only refuse to subordinate his judgement to that of others, but he should also be free of any such interest as might affect his independent judgement even sub-consciously.
The auditor should not only be independent in his mind but also appear to be independent so that the degree of reliance in Audit Report is enhanced.