Accounting & Auditing Update

Securities regulators globally have banded together to call on audit committees to take a fresh look at their role in promoting and supporting quality audits.

The PCAOB has published its report on KPMG's scandal-ridden 2016 inspection, along with three other reports, describing high levels of audit deficiencies and mismanagement of quality.

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

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.

The PCAOB plans to take a much closer look at how firms manage audit quality in 2019, retooling the inspections process to focus on quality control systems.

A third ex-KPMG partner has consented to a guilty plea in connection with charges of fraud and conspiracy in regulatory inspections.

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

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

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.

After some serious blows to its reputation, KPMG has decided to add outside directors to its board.

A brand new slate of audit regulators is looking for some direction as it takes the helm at the PCAOB and establishes a new strategic plan.

Former KPMG leaders gamed up to two years of inspection results, federal authorities say, but no one will discuss whether those results can or should be corrected.

Grant Thornton's latest PCAOB inspection report, dating to 2016, shows improvement over prior year results.

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.

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.

Where there are problems with audit quality, it appears to be more of a problem with people than with institutional approaches to audit work.

New leadership will soon take over the helm of the PCAOB after SEC Chairman Jay Clayton opens a public search for as many as four board positions.

Big companies subject to SOX reporting said their external audit costs increased in 2016 as auditors continue to report pressure from PCAOB inspections.

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.

The inspection information leak that led to dismissals at KPMG and the PCAOB raises big questions about how to assure fair and transparent inspection results for all Big 4 firms.

U.S. audit regulators have settled a $1 million action with an EY affiliate in Indonesia over allegations of audit failure and noncooperation.

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.

The PCAOB’s earliest 2015 inspection results show some reductions in deficient audits, but also increases in restatements and withdrawn opinions. More from Tammy Whitehouse.

The PCAOB is encouraged by improvements it sees in audit inspections in internal control, but the agency is still troubled by the nature of the problems it identifies. Tammy Whitehouse reports.