Accounting & Auditing

DETAILS Download The Study On Public Company Views Of Auditors Download The Original Study On Accounting Firm Consolidation As a follow-up to its August study on auditor consolidation, the GAO last week published a report that looked at large public company views on audit fees, quality and choice. The report found “high levels of satisfaction” […]

Grant Thornton LLP, the nation’s fifth largest accounting firm, recently announced that it would refrain from providing a number of internal control services to public audit clients. According to Grant Thornton CEO Ed Nusbaum, the move reflects a “principles- versus rules-based approach to accounting” that is in keeping with the intent of Sarbanes-Oxley. “There are […]

According to a recent study in USA Today, new accounting rules and renewed emphasis on transparency has “all but squashed” the use of pro forma numbers. According to the study, conducted with Thomson First Call, only 28 of the 444 companies in the S&P 500 that reported second-quarter results provided numbers “that subtracted anything other […]

Last week, the GAO’s SOX-mandated study on the accounting industry found that smaller firms faced significant barriers in competing with the “tight oligarchy” of the Big Four. We asked Edward Nusbaum, the CEO of the fifth-largest accounting firm Grant Thornton, for his reaction to the study, its impact on GT, and his thoughts on the […]

37 percent of financial professionals that provide information for their firms’ public-company filings with the SEC are asked to sign an affidavit or “subcertification” vouching for the accuracy of that information. Subcertifications are sometimes known as “cascading certifications” or “managerial attestations.” The findings were part of a recent study conducted by the Association for Financial […]

147-page study found audit fees were increasing, smaller accounting firms faced significant barriers to entry, and more…

Complete text of the SEC study on the adoption by the U. S. financial reporting system of a principles-based accounting system.

Report prepared by the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission on the adoption by the U.S. of a “principles-based” accounting system, as opposed to its current “rules-based” system.

For U.S. public companies, the legal landscape for the quarterly ritual of publicly announcing and discussing their financial results changed with the adoption by the SEC of Regulation G and the related amendments to Regulation S-K and Form 8-K which became effective on March 28, 2003. Overview Under the new rules, companies that disclose material […]

It’s almost earnings reporting season again. To help companies get ready, this article reviews practices for handling earnings announcements in light of new SEC rules that took effect on March 28, 2003 and recent guidance provided by the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance in the form of an FAQ issued on June […]