Audit Committee

KPMG Offers "To Do" List for Audit Committees

Tammy Whitehouse April 05, 2012

Audit committees need to focus more on financial statement issues such as fair-value estimates, impairments, and assumptions underlying other critical accounting estimates, according to KPMG Audit Committee Institute's annual "to do" list for audit committees. Other items on the agenda are economic uncertainty, market volatility, ongoing cost reduction efforts, and regulatory shifts.

Olympus Fraud Casts a Shadow on Auditor Confirmation

Tammy Whitehouse January 24, 2012

The latest corporate scandal—this one from Olympus, where executives are accused of thwarting auditors' efforts to verify data through third parties—has again revived the debate about how to make auditor confirmation a more effective anti-fraud tool. "Some auditors are more sophisticated and do better testing, but some I think are a little too complacent," says Frances McLeod at Forensic Risk Alliance. More inside.

PCAOB Seeks More Feedback on Communication

Tammy Whitehouse December 27, 2011

Nearly two years after first proposing a standard on how auditors must communicate with audit committees, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is hoping the third time is indeed the charm. The PCAOB is proposing for the third time its standard on Communications with Audit Committees and related amendments to existing PCAOB standards.

PCAOB Reopens Comment on Communications Standard

Tammy Whitehouse September 08, 2010

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has decided to reopen the comment process and gather more feedback on its proposed standard, Communications With Audit Committees, governing how auditors must communicate with audit committees.The PCAOB scheduled a roundtable session for Sept. 21 and reopened the comment process on its proposed standard...

PCAOB Seeks to Update Auditor Communication With AC

Tammy Whitehouse March 31, 2010

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued for comment a proposal to adopt a new auditing standard that gives auditors some new requirements about what and how they should communicate with audit committees.The standard would require auditors to come to a mutual understanding of the terms of an audit...

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