All Accounting & Auditing articles – Page 109
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Blog
Study Says CFOs Still Control Audit Fees at Many Companies
Image: Title: MauldinNew academic research suggests the CFO, not the audit committee, still often negotiates the audit fee, despite Sarbanes-Oxley Act provisions meant to put audit committees in the driver’s seat. “At many companies it is still primarily the CFO who calls the shots,” says Elaine Mauldin, professor at the ...
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Resource
e-Book: Employment Compliance & Payroll: Wrapping Up 2014
As 2015 fast approaches, getting a handle on new and existing employment tax compliance and payroll is as daunting a task as ever before. In this e-Book, produced by Compliance Week in cooperation with ADP, you will learn what companies can do to navigate a regulatory and accounting minefield that ...
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Blog
Netwrix Auditor 6.5 Helps Detect Insider Threats
Netwrix, a provider of change and configuration auditing software, recently announced the release of Netwrix Auditor 6.5. This new offering provides comprehensive monitoring and auditing capabilities that help to streamline compliance, strengthen security, and simplify root cause analysis across the entire IT infrastructure, including file servers and shares. Details inside.
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Article
Audit Staffing Concerns; Conflict Minerals Update; More
Coming in the Nov. 4 edition of Compliance Week: Internal audit staff shortages are causing a rise in audit fees and placing more demands on the IA function; also next week, CW’s Joe Mont provides a look at where companies stand in preparing for year two of conflict minerals compliance.
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Blog
Companies Need to Consider New Mortality Data in Pension Costs
Companies that sponsor retirement plans have some new, hard-to-ignore information to consider that promises to increase the cost of their plans. The Society of Actuaries has released updated mortality tables that show pension plan participants are living longer. The SOA estimates that could produce a 4- to 8-percent increase in ...
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Blog
OECD Completes FATCA-Like Regime With More Reporting Obligations
Image: Title: PlowgianThe Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development has finished the Common Reporting Standard to govern the exchange of tax information among more than 50 countries. While the United States is not a participant, says KPMG principal Michael Plowgian, subsidiaries or branches of U.S. entities will need to comply ...
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Blog
Goodwill Impairment Drops to Five-Year Low
Public companies reported the lowest levels of goodwill impairment last year since the financial crisis touched off a downward spiral in corporate values beginning in 2008. According to Duff & Phelps’ annual study, public companies recorded writedowns totaling $21 billion in 2013, down nearly 60 percent from the $51 billion ...
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Blog
Proponents Say IFRS Will Benefit EU Moving Forward
Image: Title: HoogervorstOct. 29—The heads of two groups charged with overseeing the International Financial Reporting Standards have told the European Commission that using the single set of financial reporting standards has benefited the European Union and will continue to do so. IFRS Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman Michel Prada and ...
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Blog
Keeping Reporting Overseers on the Same Page
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board have several formal and informal channels to compare notes and exchange ideas. Still, some wonder if a forum to discuss the reporting system as a whole and the long-term health of that system ...
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Article
Reducing Systems and Risks in Purchase-to-Pay
Most companies maintain several systems within their procurement and accounts payable functions, especially if they have grown through acquisition. But several systems can create risks, including low supplier visibility. Fewer systems can help, but it’s not a cure-all. Many companies find they need to take steps to reduce the risks ...
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Article
All Eyes on Internal Controls as Year-End Close Approaches
Image: Title: DurbinAs companies begin preparing for the year-end close, audit experts are warning them to take these final months of the year to check documentation. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is pressuring audit firms to scrutinize internal controls and other areas, and that scrutiny is likely to trickle ...
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Article
Year-End Preparation; SEC Enforcement in 2014; More
Title: Year-End Preparation; SEC EnfoComing in the Oct. 28 edition of Compliance Week: Hear from audit experts on what steps to take in planning for year-end close; also next week, a look back at the record number of enforcement actions brought by the SEC in 2014.
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Blog
McGladrey Sees Improvement in 2013 Inspection Report
Oct. 24—While KPMG was dinged by the PCAOB, McGladrey saw some improvement. The PCAOB studied 13 audits at McGladrey and found fault with four of them during its 2013 inspections of the firm. That deficiency rate of 31 percent is a step up from failure rates of 44 percent in ...
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Blog
KPMG Draws Ire in 2013 Report; New Carping Over Old Quality Issues
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board says KPMG failed to arrive at an adequately supported audit opinion in 46 percent of the audits the agency inspected in 2013, and it failed to satisfy quality control issues raised in earlier inspections. The PCAOB flagged 23 of the 50 audits that inspectors ...
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Blog
SEC Plans Early 2015 Concept Release on Audit Committee Upgrades
Image: Title: WhiteThe SEC expects to issue a concept release in early 2015 exploring possible avenues for elevating the work of public company audit committees, according to SEC Chair Mary Jo White. In recent remarks, White said the staff will address issues around the relationship between the audit committee and ...
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Article
Preparing for 2015 Employment Tax Compliance
As companies begin planning for tax compliance in the coming year, they are finding 2015 to be a mixed bag. The good news is that payroll and other tax law changes are minimal; the bad news is that some companies may see hikes in their tax rates. “Thankfully, ...
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Article
Here We Go Again: Regulators Looking Anew at Audit Firm Consulting
Image: Title: TurnerRegulators are taking a fresh look at whether the quality of public company audits is threatened when audit firms also focus on selling consulting services. Revenue from audit services has remained flat, while revenue from consulting services is rising again. “They’re driven by the fact that management is ...