Cybersecurity and ERM Are Top Audit Committee Priorities. ESG, Not So Much
The Center for Quality (CAQ) and the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness have released their third annual survey of audit committee...
Ceres Advocates Climate Disclosure Reasonable Assurance
Ceres, a nonprofit organization that works with capital market leaders to address sustainability challenges, has released Closing the...
SEC Chief Accountant Calls on Auditors to Improve and on Audit Committees to Be Proactive
Earlier this year, the PCAOB announced that approximately 40 percent of the audits inspected in 2022 will have one or more deficiencies...
More Audit Reports Contain CAMs, But There are Fewer CAMs Overall
Ideagen Audit Analytics (IAA) has released Critical Audit Matters: A 3-Year Review 2020-2022, a study of critical audit matters (CAMs)...
PCAOB Charges Four More Firms with Audit Committee Communications Violations
On February 20, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced settled disciplinary proceedings against four audit firms for...
Large Companies Worldwide Continue to Expand Their ESG Disclosure and Assurance
ESG reporting is almost universal among the world’s largest companies, and third-party assurance over ESG disclosures is becoming the...
EY on SEC Priorities for 2024
In last month’s Update, What Should be on the Audit Committee’s 2024 Agenda?, January 2024 Update lists accounting and consulting firm...
Your Controller is Probably Making Lots of Accounting Mistakes
A survey of corporate controller employees by consulting firm Gartner found that 18 percent of accountants make financial errors at least...
PCAOB 2024 Inspection Priorities: More Inspections and a Focus on Firm Culture
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s inspection staff outlined its 2024 inspections priorities and its plans for interactions...
Four Large Firms Report on How They See Their 2023 Audit Quality
Each year, the U.S. members of the six large global network accounting firms issue audit quality reports. These reports describe the...
PCAOB Target Team Zeroed in on First-time Audits, Shared Service Centers, and Climate
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s annual inspections program includes a “target team” which examines how auditors handled...
What Should be on the Audit Committee’s 2024 Agenda?
At the beginning of each year, accounting and consulting firms present their views on the issues on which audit committees should focus...
AI: Yet Another Audit Committee Responsibility
As noted in several of the 2024 audit committee agenda papers (see What Should be on the Audit Committee’s 2024 Agenda?), audit...
What Do Clients Want from Auditors? Is it the Same as What Investors Want?
In What Do Audit Clients Want from Their Auditor?, Brant Christensen (Brigham Young University), Matthew Ege and Nathan Sharp (both of...
How to Improve Your Audit: Ask Your Auditor to Hire a PCAOB Alum
Washington is famous for the revolving door – the practice of professionals serving some time in government and then going to work for...
PCAOB Isn’t Happy with EQR and Has Questions for Audit Committees to Ask
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued a staff report on engagement quality reviews (EQRs). An EQR is an evaluation by...
CAQ Reports on Ten Years of Increasing Audit Committee Transparency
On November 30, the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) and research firm Ideagen Audit Analytics (AA) released 2023 Audit Committee...
After a SPAC-Driven Surge, Restatements Are Returning to “Normal”
Ideagen Audit Analytics (AA) has released its annual report on public company restatements, Financial Restatements: A 20-Year Review...
SEC Enforcement Targets Individuals but Rewards Company Cooperation
In fiscal year 2023, Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions against public companies and their subsidiaries rose 34...