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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.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Study Says Investors Need to Know About Audit Offshoring
Tammy Whitehouse | January 29, 2015
Apparently doubting the quality of the audit, investors punish companies when they first learn that others from outside the principal audit firm had a hand in assuring the company’s financial statements.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Compromise Nears on Naming Audit Engagement Partners
Tammy Whitehouse | October 1, 2014
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is once again considering how to provide investors with the name of the engagement partner on public company audits. The PCAOB staff is drafting “a supplemental request for comment” for the board’s consideration. “We’re not viewing this as another reproposal,” says PCAOB member Jay Hanson. More inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SEC Mulls Auditor Tenure for Audit Committee Disclosure
Tammy Whitehouse | June 16, 2015
When the SEC issues its audit committee discussion paper, it likely will explore more on the audit firm’s tenure and naming engagement partners. As the PCAOB has tried to get consensus on these themes, the board has heard pushback that the disclosure is better placed in audit committee reports, the SEC’s jurisdiction. “That’s why we’re likely to see that at least floated in the SEC idea document,” says Joe Carcello, a member of the SEC’s advisory committee. More inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
PCAOB Revisits Naming Engagement Partner, Audit Quality Metrics
Tammy Whitehouse | June 30, 2015
Audit regulators are trying again to propose a rule that would give investors more information about who is working behind the curtain when an audit firm files its final report on a company’s financial statements.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Doty: Rule on Engagement Partner ID by Year End
Tammy Whitehouse | September 10, 2015
More than a decade after regulators began mulling how to give some transparency to investors around who actually performs public company audits, PCAOB Chairman James Doty said he is hopeful that the board is on track to “get this done by the end of the year.” Doty recently said the PCAOB received 45 comment letters on its proposal to require auditors to name engagement partners. Details inside.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Comment wanted on rule requiring naming engagement partners
Tammy Whitehouse | March 1, 2016
The SEC is gathering comment on recent PCAOB rules that require audit firms to complete a new filing providing the name of engagement partners on public company audit engagements. PCAOB rules are subject to SEC approval before they can become final, which is why the Commission wants to hear remarks for itself. The new filing requirement is meant to take effect for audit reports issued on or after Jan. 31, 2017, giving audit firms 35 days after the first filing of each audit report to complete the PCAOB filing.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
SEC approves PCAOB rule on naming engagement partners
Tammy Whitehouse | May 10, 2016
The SEC has given final approval to a PCAOB rule requiring audit firms to complete a new filing on Form AP to provide the name of the engagement partner on each audit engagement. Meanwhile, Tammy Whitehouse reports, the PCAOB is attempting once again to expand the audit report.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
AICPA objects to Labor Dept. benefit plan proposal
Tammy Whitehouse | December 5, 2016
The accounting profession is objecting to proposed changes to employee benefit plan reporting, especially requiring plan sponsors to name the engagement partner on plan audits. Tammy Whitehouse has more.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
AICPA objects to naming partners on benefit plan audits
Tammy Whitehouse | December 20, 2016
The accounting profession is objecting to proposed changes to employee benefit plan reporting, especially requiring the name of the engagement partner on plan audits. More from Tammy Whitehouse.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
First engagement partner names emerging via new PCAOB rule
Tammy Whitehouse | February 6, 2017
The earliest Form AP filings by audit firms are providing a first glimpse into who is overseeing and signing off on audit reports for public companies. Tammy Whitehouse has more.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
CAQ offers blueprint for asking auditors about Form AP filings
Tammy Whitehouse | June 20, 2017
Audit committees now have some talking points on how to engage auditors and management on the audit profession's new Form AP filing requirement.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
New transparency rolls out in Form AP audit filings
Tammy Whitehouse | July 11, 2017
Here’s a call to attention for audit committees. Audit regulators are rolling out a powerful new gift that will help you assess the quality of your external audit.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Do partners suffer bad inspection results? Not really, study says
Tammy Whitehouse | July 18, 2017
New academic research suggests audit firms may be shielding low-performing partners from client scrutiny by remaining coy about PCAOB inspection results.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
PCAOB issues more guidance on new audit disclosures
Tammy Whitehouse | August 27, 2018
The PCAOB has issued more guidance to auditors about how they should comply with requirements to add new information to audit reports.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Report calls out gender disparity among engagement partners
Tammy Whitehouse | September 18, 2018
As audit firms disclose who performs public company audits, gender diversity is emerging as the first major concern regarding audit engagement leadership.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
New study says long audit tenure slows corrections
Tammy Whitehouse | March 6, 2018
Recently published academic research suggests there is indeed a detriment to audit quality when audit firms hold long tenures on audit engagements.
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Accounting & Auditing Update Blog
Investors show strong response to partner IDs
Tammy Whitehouse | April 26, 2018
Investors react when they know the name of an engagement partner on an audit, research suggests, but the reaction may be stronger than expected.
Displaying 17 results