Ethical Conflicts While Performing Professional Accounting

Please prepare a response post to the folllowing post:
Discuss when ethical conflicts arise in the performance of professional accounting services? How should a CPA go about resolving ethical conflicts?
There are many instances where ethical conflicts can arise in the performance of professional accounting services. For example, a conflict can arise when an auditing team becomes too close / friendly with the client team they are serving, otherwise known as the familiarity risk. If the audit team develops too close of a relationship with the client, they may begin to align with the clients interests in a way that impairs their objectivity and impartiality necessary in the audit. An ethical conflict that could arise in this example is if the client team asks the audit team to go for dinner or drinks frequently. On one hand, the team wants to provide quality client service including building a good relationship with the client through events such as these. However, on the other hand, if the audit team is at risk of becoming too aligned with the clients interests, it may be necessary to say no in these instances to enforce boundaries and continue to be objective and impartial, which ultimately provides the best client service. In order to resolve ethical conflicts, it is important that the CPA considers the potential implications and consequences of all different courses of action. They must think about their duties and obligations as a CPA, especially to the public interest, and ultimately select the course of action that best serves those duties and obligations. Sometimes consulting with other CPA's to make a decision regarding an ethical conflict can be very helpful as well.
Can a CPA auditor be independent without being objective and impartial? Can a CPA auditor be objective and impartial without being independent?
I believe that a CPA auditor can be technically independent based on the rules in terms of conflicts of interest even if they are not also both objective and impartial. The independence rules may not cover a specific relationship or conflict of interest thus they are technically independent, but the nature of the relationship could still impede the auditor's impartiality or objectivity. However, per a October 2020 SEC press release regarding the amendments to Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X, the amendments have "a focus on protecting investors against threats to the objectivity and impartiality of auditors" as opposed to technical independence, which they state was "diverting time, attention, and other resources of audit clients, auditors, and audit committees from other investor protection efforts". Thus, an auditor, based on this rule, can be objective and impartial while not being technically independent.