In a speech to a House subcommittee, PCAOB Chairman William McDonough said a narrow review of last year’s audits conducted by the Big Four revealed “significant audit and accounting issues.”
Accounting & Auditing
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Nearly 1,000 Audit Firms Registered With Board
According to a speech delivered last week by William McDonough, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 977 accounting firms have registered with the PCAOB. In addition, over 200 firms are awaiting approval from the Board to audit U.S. public companies. If there was any doubt about audit firm consolidation, McDonough noted that there […]
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Audit Committees Must Be Told About Contingency Fees
In a meeting last week, SEC Chief Accountant Don Nicolaisen ordered accounting firms to disclose all contingency-based tax fees to company audit committees. Nicolaisen As we reported in our May 25 edition, those fees—which enable the auditor to take a cut of whatever savings the client was able to realize as a result of the […]
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39 Questions To Expect From Your Audit Committee
Building a compliance program in line with Sections 404 and 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a difficult task, one in which the audit committee plays a critical role. It is up to audit committee members to ask key questions and review relevant information throughout the process. By the time an external auditor assesses a […]
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Most Companies’ Non-Audit Fees Under 25% Total Fees
A survey of over 3,600 public companies shows that almost 45 percent of companies’ non-audit fees are less than 25 percent of total fees. The survey, conducted by Karl Nagel & Company, analyzed FYE 2003 audit fees, which totaled more than $4.3 billion in aggregate. 29 percent of companies’ non-audit fees were from one-quarter to […]
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PCAOB Will Grill Audit Chairs On Non-Audit Services
Accounting fraud may have hogged the enforcement headlines for the past few years, thanks to high-profile scandals at Enron, Adelphia and Tyco International. But over the past few weeks, a number of accounting firms have learned that the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal officials are still determined to crack down on auditor independence […]
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What If Your Audit Gets Inspected By The PCAOB?
As you likely know, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be conducting inspections of the Big Four and other accounting firms on a regular basis. However, if your company’s audit becomes the subject of a PCAOB inspection, you won’t find out from the Board. Sayther That’s according to Colleen Sayther, president and CEO of […]
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Distilling SOX 302, 404 & 906
Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in July 2002, most analysts in the field agree Sections 302 and 404 are the most complex and costly of what is widely regarded as the most onerous piece of the corporate governance legislation.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
European Union Publishes Audit Directive; Brits Respond
Last week, the European Commission proposed a “directive” aimed at creating a set of rules on how audits should be conducted throughout the EU. Among other items, the proposal would require companies to establish audit committees with independent directors to oversee the audit process, and would force auditors to publish annual “transparency reports” disclosing non-audit […]
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Why Do Corporate Managers Misstate Financial Statements?
Study by three professors at Texas A&M University analyzes the role of option compensation, corporate governance, and other factors in financial misstatements.