The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to unveil a proposal for a dramatic revision of Auditing Standard No. 2 next week, promising to clear up vexing confusion over what opinions auditors are supposed to give and to what extent they should study management’s internal control assessment process.
The PCAOB has scheduled a public meeting on the morning of Dec. 19 to “consider proposing for public comment a new auditing standard to supersede the Board’s existing auditing standard on internal control over financial reporting, and other related proposals,” according to a written statement. The new standard will essentially replace AS2, which auditors have used for three years and companies denounce as far more exacting than necessary.
