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Accounting & Auditing Update

The "Accounting & Auditing Update" is written by Tammy Whitehouse, a veteran business writer who has been a regular contributor to Compliance Week since 2005. Her work has also appeared in industry journals and periodicals including Journal of Business Strategy, Strategy & Leadership, Compensation & Benefits Review, Inc, Buyside, and myriad others. Whitehouse welcomes questions and comments from readers; she can be reached via e-mail at twhitehouse@complianceweek.com.
11 results found, filtered by:
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Study: Audit costs on rise again in 2017
Tammy Whitehouse | January 4, 2019
The latest analysis of audit and non-audit fees shows audit fees paid by public companies crept upward in 2017 for the fifth straight year.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
New GAAP rules drive audit fee increases, poll says
Tammy Whitehouse | December 11, 2018
New accounting standards and M&A activity are driving modest increases in audit fees for public companies, according to a new FERF survey.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SOX-related audit costs rise again in 2017, poll says
Tammy Whitehouse | August 9, 2018
Half of the largest public companies saw SOX-related audit costs rise in 2017, driven by regulatory pressure, M&A activity, and new accounting rules.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Study establishes link between fee pressure and audit quality
Tammy Whitehouse | March 20, 2018
New academic research suggests there is indeed a correlation between pressure on audit fees and audit quality — and it’s not pretty.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Audit fees creep higher in 2016, study shows
Tammy Whitehouse | January 3, 2018
Public company audit fees inched upward again in 2016, based on the latest data available from Audit Analytics.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Companies get proactive to control audit costs, report says
Tammy Whitehouse | January 18, 2017
Companies are mitigating increases in audit fees, and in some cases are even reducing audit costs, using some key tactics outlined in a new report. More from Tammy Whitehouse.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Companies take action against rising audit costs, FERF study says
Tammy Whitehouse | December 1, 2016
Tammy Whitehouse has the results of a new study that shows audit cost increases for public companies are outpacing inflation, but the largest companies are taking measures to keep cost increases in check.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
More Data Show Audit Fees Rising for Public Companies
Tammy Whitehouse | October 9, 2015
A recent study from Financial Executives International of 7,000 public companies revealed that 20.6 percent reported ineffective internal controls over financial reporting, and the median audit fee increase for those companies was 3 percentage points higher than for public companies as a whole. The companies cited two primary reasons for the fee increase: acquisitions, and the auditor review of manual controls as a result of PCAOB inspections. Details inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Audit Fee Data Reveals New Split on Non-Audit Services
Tammy Whitehouse | August 26, 2015
According to a recent Audit Analytics study of fees paid in 2014 by 2,300 accelerated filers, 80.3 percent were focused on the integrated financial statement internal control audit; fees for non-audit services dipped to 19.7 percent of the total bill from the audit firm, a drop from 20 percent during the past several years. Before Sarbanes-Oxley, audit and non-audit services split almost exactly 50-50, suggesting the regulator crackdown on auditor independence violations is driving a significant gap between what companies pay for the financial statement audit compared with other non-audit services. Details inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Public Company Audit Fees Turn North, Latest Data Will Show
Tammy Whitehouse | October 7, 2014
Audit fees paid by public companies are starting to rise after several years of downward pressure from financial market turmoil and economic decline. Soon-to-be-published data from Audit Analytics will show audit fees paid by more than 2,300 accelerated filers, as a percentage of revenue, turned upward by an average of 1.4 percent in 2013 after four consecutive years of decline. Audit fees as a percentage of revenue peaked in 2004, when companies paid $592 in audit fees for every $1 million in revenue. More study details inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Public Companies Are Seeing Stiff Hikes in Audit Costs
Tammy Whitehouse | October 3, 2014
Public companies reported an average 4.5 percent increase in fees they paid to auditors in 2013 over the year before—with the average audit bill now at $7.1 million, notes the Financial Executives Research Foundation in an annual survey. Companies said they paid more for audit work primarily because of more scrutiny of audits by the PCAOB, greater review of manual controls, and more testing and documentation by audit firms. Details inside.
Displaying 11 results