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 […]
Tammy Whitehouse
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Still Few CPAs On Audit Committees; More
A lthough they are growing in number, accountants on the audit committee are still an anomaly for the majority of public companies, according to a recent study by Huron Consulting Group. In 2002, only 5 percent of all audit-committee members were accountants. By 2005, the figure had grown to 11 percent, the study said. The […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Now It’s Crunch Time For Accelerated Filers
Crunch time is getting closer for accelerated filers approaching year’s end. The sprint to a compressed, 60-day process to close the books and meet filing deadlines for the largest and most complex public companies will begin in a few short weeks. The long-foretold 60-day close process falls in the same year thatcompanies also must address […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
PCAOB Hints At Replacement Of AS2; More
A lthough it still hasn’t pinned down a final date for the unveiling of a revised Auditing Standard No. 2, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has been working on “a new standard to replace current AS2,” Board Chairman Mark Olson said during a recent speech—hinting at just how far-reaching the amendments to the much-maligned […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Sustainability Gains Ground As ERM Tool
Whether lured by the promise of new opportunity or pushed by the fear of mounting risks, a growing number of public companies are starting to think a little more altruistically—and paying more attention to their ability to sustain themselves well into the future. “Corporate sustainable development” is a new way of doing business for U.S. […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FASB Guidance; Why SOX Costs Rise; More
T he staff of the Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing a narrow exception to existing accounting rules for derivatives, with the recent issuance of tentative implementation guidance related to Financial Accounting Standard No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities. The staff issued Implementation Issue No. B40 in draft form to specify that […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Documentation Weaknesses Abound
While corporate-finance professionals might generally agree with the saying, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” many believe that Sarbanes-Oxley—and especially the subsequent Auditing Standard No. 2—have created measurement overkill. The tried-and-true method of management by measurement is by documentation: the theory that companies should document how things are supposed to be done, then lay […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Form 4s Indicate Yet More Backdating Woes
A recent study of stock option disclosures and stock prices suggests that some companies may have committed instances of backdating into the current fiscal year, contradicting the widespread belief that backdating largely ended in 2002 with the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A handful of companies included in the recent study, conducted by proxy research firm […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
COSO News; Reform Of Financial Reporting?
The authors of the most entrenched framework for establishing internal control over financial reporting are planning to issue more guidance on how companies can monitor controls on an ongoing basis to make their compliance efforts more efficient. One central component of the COSO model—crafted by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations and widely used to facilitate […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Fair-Value, Tax Services Update; More
A udit regulators have delayed until next spring the starting date for an independence rule designed to create greater separation between audit and tax work—and may be rethinking certain aspects of the rule entirely. Last week, on the eve of the rule’s effective date, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board adjusted the implementation schedule for […]