All Big 4 articles
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Blog
EY holds fast to U.S. audit model; PwC silent
EY may be taking steps to draw a broader line between audit and consulting services in the U.K., but the U.S. firm has no such plans. Meanwhile, PwC is silent.
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BlogGrant Thornton forms audit quality advisory panel
Grant Thornton is joining the Big 4 in appointing more leadership to its firm governance to drive more focus on audit quality.
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Blog
EY forms independent audit quality committee
EY has joined the rest of the Big Four in seeking independent consult on audit quality, forming a committee of outside experts to advise firm leaders.
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Blog
Big 4 firms audit fewer companies, analysis shows
Big 4 firms are performing fewer public company audits as the number of public companies continues to decline, according to Audit Analytics.
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Article
The Big Four in the U.K.: Breaking up is hard to do
The latest recommendation to break up the Big Four accountancy firms from the two parliamentary committees investigating the collapse of construction firm Carillion is hardly a new idea, but is it possible?
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Blog
Auditors defer more to former colleagues, study suggests
Auditors will show some deference to judgment calls when the CFO of the client company is an alumni of the audit firm, according to emerging academic research.
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Blog
Delayed inspection reports will show plateau in audit improvements
When reports begin to emerge on the latest inspection findings for the major audit firms, they will show no broad, appreciable improvements over the prior year.
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Blog
PCAOB sees some improvement, yet room for more
Based on its latest round of audit inspections in 2017, the PCAOB found some improvement at some firms, but still plenty of work to do to meet standards.
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Blog
SEC may relieve certain entities from revenue, lease adoption dates
Big 4 firms say the SEC won’t object if certain “public business entities” adopt new revenue and leasing rules under private company effective dates.
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Blog
BDO 2015 report shows more restatements, withdrawn opinions
Roughly half the audits inspected at BDO USA contained deficiencies in 2015, several serious enough to result in restatements and withdrawn ICFR opinions.
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Blog
Regulators globally say 42 percent of audits are deficient
Audit quality is an even bigger concern outside the United States, where inspectors spot deficiencies at major network firms in 42 percent of the audits they check.
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Blog
Audit change data shows differences at Big 4 firms
In the churn for new auditors, one Big 4 firm has held steady with its net number of audit clients while three others have seen net losses numbering in the 20s. Tammy Whitehouse has the results of the latest data from Audit Analytics.
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Blog
EY Indonesia firm settles $1 million action with PCAOB
U.S. audit regulators have settled a $1 million action with an EY affiliate in Indonesia over allegations of audit failure and noncooperation.
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Blog
PCAOB issues 2014 report on Grant Thornton, showing gains
The PCAOB has published its last 2014 inspection report on the eight largest firms, showing gains at Grant Thornton from a year prior and slight improvement across major firms. Tammy Whitehouse reports.
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Blog
Big 4 polls say companies are stalled on big accounting changes
More Big 4 surveys on big accounting changes suggest companies are starting to face a kind of paralysis over how to move forward and make it all work. On revenue recognition a recent KPMG poll suggests the vast majority of companies are still trying to digest how it will affect ...
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Blog
Where Audits Go Awry, Internal Control Audit is Faulty Too, Analysis Shows
Image: Big 4 firms exhibited problems in 35 percent of all audit engagements inspected in 2014, and a whopping 84 percent of those deficient audits involved problems with internal control over financial reporting, according to an analysis by Dan Goelzer, a former member and acting chair of the PCAOB. The ...
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Blog
Inspection Results Vary Even Within Global Networks, PCAOB Member Says
Image: Global affiliates of the six largest accounting firms turn in strikingly different inspection results compared with their U.S. affiliates. PCAOB research shows. Deloitte U.S., for example, has been reducing the rate of deficiencies in its inspections from 2011 through 2013, but Deloitte’s global affiliates have turned in much higher ...
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Article
Feel the Churn: Big 4 Get Squeezed on Audit Engagements
Image: The Big 4 audit firms have lost more audit clients this year than they have gained, and second-tier firms seem to be picking them up. That churn is probably due to a variety of factors, from cost to PCAOB inspection reports to ease of working relationship, but the overall ...
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Article
PCAOB Inspection Data: Shifting Standards, Shifting Insights
Image: If you want to be panicky or cynical about audit firms’ performance, citing failure rates in PCAOB inspection reports is a great way to do it. The truth is more complex. In Part II of our series looking at PCAOB inspection data, we delve into how inspections have changed ...
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Blog
Big 4 Lose Audits to Smaller Firms in 2014, Data Shows
Big 4 firms lost a combined 64 public company audit engagements in 2014 as second-tier national firms snatched up a combined 58 new clients, according to Audit Analytics. The company’s annual summary of auditor changes says KPMG is the only Big 4 firm to win more new engagements than it ...