SEC Chief Accountant: When Assessing Risk, Look at the Big Picture
SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter has issued a statement discussing risk assessment. In The Importance of a Comprehensive Risk Assessment...
No Surprises, Please. 2022 PCAOB Conversations with Audit Committee Chairs
Audit committee chairs are worried about the impact of the “great resignation” on their engagement team and on the financial reporting...
California Outflanks the SEC on Climate Disclosure
California Governor Newsom has signed legislature that will require many U.S. companies to disclose their scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse...
E.U. ESG Disclosure Requirements Will Affect Many U.S. Companies
The SEC’s climate-change proposal and the new California climate disclosure laws are not the only ESG disclosure requirements to which...
Ready or Not: KPMG Finds that Few Companies are Prepared for ESG Assurance
KPMG has released Road to Readiness, the inaugural report on the KPMG ESG Assurance Maturity Index. The Maturity Index, measured on a...
Ineffective ICFR Ticked Up for the Second Straight Year in 2022
Ideagen Audit Analytics has released SOX 404 Disclosures: A 19-Year Review, its annual analysis of disclosures under Section 404 of the...
PCAOB Adopts a New Confirmation Standard
On September 28, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted a new standard on the auditor’s use of confirmations. See...
Top Technology Risks that Keep Internal Audit Up at Night
Chief audit executives (CAEs) and IT audit leaders see cybersecurity as the top technology risk their companies face over the next year,...
The Average Audit Fee Reached an All-Time High in 2022
In 2022, the average audit fees for an SEC-registered public companies increased 11 percent over 2021 and hit an all-time high of $2.24...
Audit Committee Members Weigh in on NOCLAR Proposal
The PCAOB’s proposal to broaden the scope of the auditor’s responsibilities for audit client noncompliance with laws and regulations...
Material Weaknesses are Increasing and the Accountant Shortage May Be to Blame
PwC reports a “resurgence” of public company material weakness disclosures. In The resurgence of the material weakness, PwC warns that,...
PCAOB Charges Five Firms with Audit Committee Communications Failures
On July 28, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced settled disciplinary orders sanctioning five audit firms for...
Advice for Audit Committee Chairs on Conducting Special Investigations
Audit committee chairs are often tasked with conducting investigations of suspected financial frauds, corrupt payments, or other...
IAASB Issues Proposed Sustainability Auditing Standard
On August 2, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued Proposed International Standard on Sustainability...
A New Auditor is Likely to Charge Less, But Miss More Financial Statement Errors
A study conducted by three researchers at the University of Texas at Austin finds that, when companies change auditors, the new auditor...
2022 PCAOB Inspections Preview Says 40 Percent of Audits Reviewed Had Deficiencies
The staff of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board anticipates that approximately 40 percent of the audits inspected in 2022 will...
So Many Questions: PCAOB Suggests Questions Audit Committees Should Ask
The PCAOB staff has issued its 2023 list of questions to aid audit committees in communicating with their auditors. Spotlight: Audit...
SEC Accounting Enforcement Continues Apace
In its annual summary of SEC enforcement activity, Cornerstone Research found a sharp increase during the past year in SEC actions...
Digital Assets: Next Steps on the Audit Committee’s Journey
The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) has released Continuing Your Digital Assets Journey: A Tool for Audit Committees (May 2023). This...