Accounting & Auditing Update

Apparently thumbing their noses at internal control requirements, four public companies have now settled charges with the SEC over prolonged failures to maintain ICFR.

Deloitte & Touche’s recently published 2017 audit inspection report reflects the lowest deficiency rate the firm has ever earned.

Given big changes companies are undertaking in their accounting processes, staff at the SEC plan to pay special attention to internal controls.

The PCAOB saw some improvement in the audit of management review controls during its 2018 inspections, but it’s still an area of focus into 2019.

New accounting standards and M&A activity are driving modest increases in audit fees for public companies, according to a new FERF survey.

Companies are migrating toward automating their internal control over financial reporting, according to a recent survey by Financial Executives Research Foundation.

Another new study confirms public company audit costs inched upward in 2016, albeit by a smaller amount than in 2015.

Audit regulators found problems with 24 percent of the audits they inspected at Deloitte in 2016, the same number inspectors flagged in 2015.

While acknowledging audit firms have taken measures to address adverse inspection findings, the PCAOB also is starting to ask if the firms are doing enough.

For the first time since 2012, a slightly smaller number of companies in 2016 reported adverse findings on internal control, according to a new analysis.

Audit leaders have handed out yet another alert to auditors to dig into high-risk areas as they prepare for the upcoming year-end audit cycle.

The PCAOB is putting auditors on notice to take a careful look at the work companies have done to implement the new revenue recognition standard.

Evidence is mounting that companies are way behind in complying with new revenue rules, prompting predictions of late filings, internal control weaknesses, even restatements.

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.

If tensions are rising between a given company and its external auditor, there’s a greater chance the company will be reporting internal control weaknesses.

A House sub-committee is asking whether federal regulation has hindered the growth of public companies, including Sarbanes-Oxley auditing of internal controls.

Auditors have been notified to be alert to whether corporate SAB 74 disclosures about pending new accounting standards are adequate.

A new study calculates the cost and benefit of exempting smaller companies from SOX internal control audits — and it suggests investors aren't better off.

U.S. Senators are asking how KPMG could know Wells Fargo had fake accounts on the books, but not flag it as relevant to the financial statement audit.

In the battle against fraud and restatements, a company’s best allies are strong accounting policies and well-documented internal controls, a new report says.

As the year-end audit cycle approaches, regulators are signaling that their expectations around internal control over financial reporting are not diminishing. Tammy Whitehouse reports.