Accounting & Auditing Update

With new professional standards soon to be finalized, auditors are working on a plan to improve the quality of employee benefit plan audits.

Auditors have new rules to follow in auditing accounting estimates and in relying on the work of specialists to arrive at audit opinions.

Whatever changes technology might bring to financial reporting, auditors still face the same auditing standards and expectations from regulators.

The PCAOB has disciplined three partners at Deloitte Mexico, citing failures in cross-border audits that affected U.S. opinions.

Accounting expertise coupled with high levels of executive compensation can increase the risk of misstatements, according to a new academic study.

A new approach to audit inspections will begin in 2019, with changes intended to  focus on prevention and deterrence, new PCAOB chairman says.

Two new enforcement actions give audit committees some textbook reminders to keep tabs on auditors regarding their compliance with professional standards.

Auditors following global standards now have updated rules on how to audit accounting estimates, guidance U.S. auditors have been awaiting for years.

As audit firms disclose who performs public company audits, gender diversity is emerging as the first major concern regarding audit engagement leadership.

The PCAOB has issued more guidance to auditors about how they should comply with requirements to add new information to audit reports.

Audit regulators are inviting feedback on a slimmed-down strategic plan, giving stakeholders a chance to influence how to regulate public company auditing.

A significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting will not automatically constitute a critical audit matter that auditors will have to disclose under a new auditing standard, but it could suggest auditors will disclose a CAM related to the underlying accounting, said the Center for Audit Quality.

The PCAOB is preparing to issue new proposals in the fourth quarter on auditing accounting estimates and using the work of specialists.

PwC has been ordered to pay the FDIC $625.3 million as a result of a long-running accounting fraud that caused the 2009 failure of Colonial Bank.

Corporate filings flagging doubt over a company’s ability to continue as a going concern reached a low in 2016, according to the newest research.

The PCAOB has censured the partner who oversaw audits at Koss, where a top finance executive went prison on charges of embezzling more than $30 million.

A group of international regulators and financial institutions is proposing a new mechanism to set standards for auditing in global capital markets.

The PCAOB has extracted a $1.5 million settlement from Grant Thornton over allegations of audit and quality control failures around engagement partner performance.

The SEC is cleaning house at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, appointing five new board members to take over the reins beginning in January.

Auditors have some new guidance from the PCAOB about how to begin revising their audit reports to reflect new requirements that take effect this year-end.

In a largely symbolic gesture, an investor panel voted to recommend to the PCAOB that it collect audited financial statements from registered audit firms.

The PCAOB is asking for a new round of public comment on a revised proposed standard that seeks to raise the bar on how audit firms supervise outside auditors.

The PCAOB is preparing to issue a final standard to overhaul the audit report and to propose new rules on auditing accounting estimates and using the work of specialists.

Auditors are scrutinizing the risk of management bias in arriving at accounting estimates, but not so much when it comes to the risk of measurement imprecision.

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.