In this report, Critical Audit Matters: Public company adaptation to enhanced auditor reporting, Intelligize examines data from a survey, conducted by SourceMediaResearch/Accounting Today, of 171 compliance specialists at...more
By now, we all know that, sooner or later, audit reports for most public companies will be required to disclose critical audit matters, which are intended to make the audit report more informative for investors. But, as this...more
AS 3101, the new auditing standard for the auditor’s report that requires disclosure of critical audit matters, is effective for audits of large accelerated filers for fiscal years ending on or after June 30, 2019. And that...more
No, it’s not an episode of Top Chef, but it is about “cooking the books.” And those are just some of the ingredients and tools used by Brixmor Property Group, a publicly traded REIT, and four of its executives to do the...more
The PCAOB has just released a new resource for audit committees about critical audit matters, designed to “inform audit committees as they engage with their auditors on the new CAM requirements.” The new auditing standard for...more
An article in the Federal Securities Law Reporter reports on some tips gleaned from a discussion of, what else, “critical audit matters” on a PCAOB panel at PLI’s 34th Midyear SEC Reporting and FASB Forum. The new auditing...more
Under PCAOB Rule 3520, the auditor “must be independent of the firm’s audit client throughout the audit and professional engagement period,” which includes satisfying the independence criteria of the SEC and the PCAOB. But...more
The PCAOB has just published new guidance on auditors’ communication of critical audit matters in the auditor’s report. The guidance includes some new FAQs related to how auditors should describe their principal...more
As you may recall, auditors of large accelerated filers will be required to report on CAMs—critical audit matters—in their auditor’s reports for fiscal years ending on or after June 30, 2019 and in auditor’s reports for all...more
Coming soon to a financial statement near you: CAMs! Late this summer, in audit reports for large accelerated filers with June 30 fiscal year ends, auditors will begin to disclose “critical audit matters.” Under the new...more
To fulfill their oversight responsibilities, audit committees typically evaluate the outside auditor at least annually to determine, in part, whether the auditor should be engaged for the subsequent fiscal year. The Center...more
In this PCAOB staff inspection brief, issued at the end of last week, the PCAOB discusses its new strategic plan, which includes conducting “an ongoing dialogue” with audit committee chairs when their companies’ audits are...more
Studies have shown that, following announcement of a restatement, stock prices are abnormally negative for the period 20 to 30 trading days after the announcement. But what happens after the restatement is actually filed? ...more
As you may recall, auditors of large accelerated filers will be required to report on CAMs—critical audit matters—in their auditor’s reports for fiscal years ending on or after June 30, 2019 and in auditor’s reports for all...more
The Center for Audit Quality, working with Audit Analytics, has just released a new edition of its annual Audit Committee Transparency Barometer, which, over the past five years, has measured the robustness of audit committee...more
You probably recall that, under SOX 404(b), all public reporting companies, other than non-accelerated filers, are required to obtain an auditor attestation regarding the effectiveness of their internal control over financial...more
Are we just reading the wrong newspapers and reports or does it seem that auditors—although they spend hours and hours performing audits—rarely identify instances of fraud? Most companies rely on their auditors to uncover...more
Here’s a reminder from the SEC: interim financial statements included in Forms 10-Q are required to be “reviewed” by outside auditors. On Friday, in a first enforcement proceeding of its kind, the SEC announced charges...more
In this speech before the 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, SEC Chair Jay Clayton discussed, among other topics, the coming agenda for public companies designed to “encourage capital formation for...more
In October 2017, the SEC approved the PCAOB’s new auditing standard for the auditor’s report, AS 3101, The Auditor’s Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion, which will...more
Audit Analytics has published its annual review of financial restatements, which this year covered a 17-year period. The review showed a double-digit percentage decline in the total number of restatements for the last three...more
What are auditors and audit committees doing to get ready for the impending disclosure of CAMs in audit reports ? You remember that, under AS 3101, the new auditing standard for the auditor’s report, auditors will be required...more
For those of you who have been waiting for those big changes to Dodd-Frank to materialize, don’t hold your breath; at least as far as the SEC is concerned, the vast majority of those rules are expected to remain in place. In...more
Starting in 2018, new rules required disclosure of auditor tenure in audit reports. (See this PubCo post.) And, for some companies, those tenures can stretch over a century. For example, KPMG reported that it has audited GE...more
As discussed in this PubCo post, both ISS and Glass Lewis recommended voting against a proposal to ratify the appointment of GE’s auditor, KPMG, at the 2018 GE annual shareholders meeting, a pretty unusual event in itself. ...more