On May 11, 2016, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) issued a reproposal of its auditor reporting standard. This action follows more than five years of active PCAOB consideration of whether the auditor’s...more
The SEC recently announced settled administrative proceedings against Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation (MHR), the former chief financial officer and chief accounting officer of MHR, the engagement partner on MHR’s external...more
Companies’ management should consider whether to add a materiality carve-out to the related party representations now being included in management representation letters as a result of the PCAOB’s Auditing Standard No. 18 (AS...more
On December 8 and 9, staff members of the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant, including the SEC chief accountant in his first published speech since he arrived at the SEC, discussed various accounting and financial...more
The PCAOB’s Chief Auditor issued a new standard-setting agenda on September 30 (the Updated Agenda), which notes the following future requests for comments, but no substantive adoptions, between October 2014 and March 2015....more
The PCAOB recently issued Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 12, which outlines significant audit deficiencies relating to revenue that PCAOB inspections have identified. ...more
A new FASB standard should diminish the current diversity in disclosures regarding substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern, which has been caused, in part, by the absence of any GAAP in this...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently granted a motion to dismiss a derivative action in which the plaintiff alleged that the directors of VeriFone Systems, Inc. breached fiduciary duties...more
Recent restatement studies released by the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) and Audit Analytics show that an increasing percentage of restatements are filed by companies that do not disclose that prior financial statements are...more
Panelists at the PCAOB’s June 25 Standing Advisory Group Meeting discussed cybersecurity and the potential implications for financial reporting and auditing. Some of the highlights from the panel include the following...more
The Office of the Chief Auditor of the PCAOB issued an updated standard-setting agenda, providing the expected timing and key milestones for various PCAOB rulemaking projects. Some of the highlights from the agenda, which was...more
In a recent speech at the Stanford Directors’ College, SEC Chair Mary Jo White discussed several “things that directors should know about the SEC.” Her speech focused on directors as gatekeepers, self-reporting of wrongdoing,...more
The PCAOB’s new and amended auditing standards, adopted on June 10 and subject to SEC approval, require that auditors, among other things, discuss related party transactions and executive officers’ financial arrangements with...more
A recent auditing standard issued by the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board may result in the inclusion of a new provision in auditors’ engagement letters related to external auditors’ use of the work of internal auditors and...more
Recommendations that audit committees provide more robust discussions in their reports that are included by public companies in their proxy statements are getting more attention. The Audit Committee Collaboration’s report,...more