The Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession has published its final report on how to rescue and sustain the auditing profession, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has already stocked its agenda with a few of those recommendations.

The PCAOB is assembling its Standing Advisory Group on Oct. 22 to discuss the feasibility of establishing indicators that would define audit quality or audit effectiveness and to debate the utility and implications of having auditors sign audit reports. The group also will discuss audit issues that may be emerging in the current economic environment, where fair-value measurements are strained by seized credit markets.

Audit quality indicators and auditor signatures are two among a number of recommendations contained in the Treasury committee report, which even in its final form still could not establish a recommendation on how to address litigation and auditor liability. The panel was split on the issue, with auditors arguing the profession needed some protection from excessive litigation claims and investor advocates arguing there should be no such protections established.

In lieu of protections, the report outlines ideas for identifying and rehabilitating firms that are facing trouble before allowing another major firm to collapse. Lynn Turner, a committee member and a former chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the report contains some “excellent recommendations to improve the governance and transparency of the audit firms,” including annual disclosure and financial filing requirements to the PCAOB.

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