Given big changes companies are undertaking in their accounting processes, staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission plan to pay special attention to internal controls.
At a year-end conference of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, SEC staff members said they have seen some progress among public companies in assessing and reporting on the effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting. However, massive accounting changes in revenue recognition and leases have upended control structures, and those control structures are critical to robust, compliant accounting.
