All PCAOB articles – Page 21
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Blog
More Data Show Audit Fees Rising for Public Companies
A recent study from Financial Executives International of 7,000 public companies revealed that 20.6 percent reported ineffective internal controls over financial reporting, and the median audit fee increase for those companies was 3 percentage points higher than for public companies as a whole. The companies cited two primary reasons for ...
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Article
Frustrating Risk With the Right Internal Control Framework
Image: As cyber-security and IT controls rise up the priority list in corporate audits, a new wrinkle is emerging: numerous frameworks (COSO, NIST, CoBIT) used by numerous parties, all trying to build effective control systems. That could lead to painful detours in mapping controls, if compliance executives don’t plan carefully. ...
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Blog
PCAOB Lays Bare Its 2015 Inspection Strategy
Image: The PCAOB has published a staff inspection brief mandating that inspectors scrutinize the audit of internal control over financial reporting, the auditor assessment of (and response to) risks of material misstatements, and the audit of accounting estimates. “We hope that audit firms and other stakeholders find this information about ...
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Blog
McGladrey Backslides in Latest PCAOB Inspection
Of inspections performed in 2014 on McGladrey’s 2013 financial statements, the PCAOB found that seven of the 15 audits failed to meet auditing standards. One particularly problematic audit for McGladrey involving failures in auditing inventory led to six separate violations of auditing standards. The majority of audit mistakes occurred in ...
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Blog
A Focus on Transparency—of Auditing
Expect lots of talk about transparency into auditing this fall. The SEC and PCAOB both have proposals to expand the disclosure to investors of how audits work, and what roles audit firms and audit committees play. Substantive changes are almost certainly coming, columnist Scott Taub says, so it’s time to ...
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Blog
Doty Supporters Tell SEC: Let PCAOB Chair Stay Seated
Image: In response to SEC Chair Mary Jo White’s recent remarks that the SEC might replace Jim Doty as chairman of the PCAOB, nearly 30 individuals with heavy credentials in financial reporting from numerous policymaking groups fired off a letter to White, stumping for Doty’s reappointment. They credit Doty with ...
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Blog
PCAOB Defends Regulatory Approach Amid Persistent Problems
PCAOB Chairman Jim Doty said recently he will meet with the U.S. Chamber of Congress if participants will discuss their own direct experiences with complaints outlined in the Chamber’s 19-page letter calling for a new inspections approach. “Hearsay is not helpful. We want to know where preparers really have been ...
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Blog
Doty Projects Year-End Completion of Engagement Partner ID
Image: More than a decade after regulators began mulling how to give some transparency to investors around who actually performs public company audits, PCAOB Chairman James Doty said he is hopeful that the board is on track to “get this done by the end of the year.” Doty recently said ...
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Article
Audit Fees Are Up; What’s Interesting Is Why
Audit fees are rising—which you probably already knew—but the latest data on audit fees raises questions about what’s behind that increase. PCAOB audit firm inspections are part of it; but many big jumps in fees seem due to external events like a merger more than vigorous audits for SOX compliance, ...
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Blog
Audit Fee Data Reveals New Departure from Non-Audit Services
According to a recent Audit Analytics study of fees paid in 2014 by 2,300 accelerated filers, 80.3 percent were focused on the integrated financial statement internal control audit; fees for non-audit services dipped to 19.7 percent of the total bill from the audit firm, a drop from 20 percent during ...
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Blog
Study Shows Better Audit Reports Lead to Better Audits
Expanded audit reports and audit committee reports have led to better audits in the United Kingdom, according to new research, perhaps because expanded reporting has given auditors more leverage over financial statement assertions. The authors of the study said the new U.K. reporting requirements led to better-quality audits, as measured ...
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Article
More Questions, and Evidence, on Undisclosed Control Weaknesses
Image: Fresh data from the PCAOB is raising awkward questions about whether companies and audit firms really are disclosing all the weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires. PCAOB board member Jeanette Franzel presented the data in a recent speech that should prompt some soul-searching ...
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Blog
PCAOB to Air Corporate Angst Over Internal Control Audits
Image: The PCAOB will convene its Investor Advisory Group in September to explore criticisms that the regulatory approach around internal controls is out of step with risk. Specifically, the group will address a recent letter from Tom Quaadman, vice president of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness at the Chamber ...
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Article
Trying for More Clarity on Work of Audit Specialists
Image: Another question on the way to a better corporate audit: whether audit firms need new rules to scrutinize the work of specialists, crucial players in producing fairly stated financial statements. The PCAOB wants to end confusion over specialists, which should help auditor and client company alike. “If you look ...
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Blog
Internal Control Audits Improving, to a Point
Image: Audits of internal control over financial reporting are starting to improve, but it’s still too early to say if audit practice has turned the corner as fully as regulators want, according to PCAOB Member Jeanette Franzel. Franzel said internal control over financial reporting continues to be the most frequent ...
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Blog
Follett Joins Weaver’s Quality and Risk Management Group
Tim Follett has joined Weaver, the largest independent accounting firm in the Southwest, as an assurance partner in the firm’s quality and risk management group. He will focus on developing tools, resources, guidance, policies and processes associated with firm compliance, risk management, administration and operations.
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Blog
How Hard Is Audit Committee Reform? Here’s One Example
Image: The SEC has asked for public comment on possible changes to the disclosures audit committees are required to make, and let’s be honest: for a subject this thorny, the SEC needs all the help it can get. Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly explores one example of reform—communication between audit ...
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Blog
PCAOB Sanctions Small Firms for Quality Reviews
Audit regulators have disciplined seven small audit firms and some of their employees for lapses in internal reviews of audit engagement reviews. The PCAOB censured the seven firms, from across the country, together with seven individuals and the companies for their violations of Auditing Standard No. 7: Engagement Quality Review. ...
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Blog
PwC Shows Small Improvement in Latest Inspection Report
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found fault with 29 percent of the 58 audits inspected at PwC in 2014, a slight improvement over the 32 percent reported in 2013. The PCAOB says out of 17 of the flagged audits, nine contained problems with both the financial statement audit and ...
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Blog
Rotation May Hinder Audit Quality, Study Says
A new study from the American Accounting Association suggests rotating auditors may not be such a good idea, especially as regulators are getting tough on auditors to show more skepticism. “Rotating auditors, aware that they will not be in a long-term relationship, will ... likely perceive themselves to be less ...