Internal Controls

The number of material weaknesses large companies are reporting has plunged in the last two years, according to an exclusive Compliance Week analysis—further evidence that Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, as onerous as it is, has compelled a dramatic improvement in companies’ internal control over financial reporting. Compliance Week reviewed the internal control disclosures made last […]

Public companies are exerting some new muscle over their audit costs, finally ending an unprecedented period of open-ended audit bills. According to a Compliance Week analysis of audit fees for S&P 500 companies with revenues of more than $1 billion, the median increase from 2006 to 2007 was only 3.2 percent. Total fees to auditors—including […]

At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. The questions and responses will then be reprinted in a future edition of Compliance Week. […]

After four years of focusing on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, internal auditors are finally starting to feel like they can give their attention to other matters, according to a recent study. The study, a survey done by the consulting firm Protiviti, found that 40 percent of internal audit departments have been able to decrease the amount of […]

Compliance executives and internal auditors are one step closer to getting valuable and eagerly anticipated guidance on monitoring internal controls, one of the most misunderstood dimensions of an effective internal controls system. COSO, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations, finally released an exposure draft of its proposed monitoring guidance on June 4. The draft is open […]

When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced plans two years ago to shift its focus to “systemic discrimination” in the office, it wasn’t kidding: In 2007, the EEOC more than doubled the number of enforcement actions from the previous year and recovered record-setting monetary awards. Drug store giant Walgreens suffered the largest hit; last year, […]

With year-end financial reporting now winding down, audit inspection teams are hitting the ground under strict orders to see whether Auditing Standard No. 5 is indeed taking root at audit firms. The Public Company Accounting Board went so far as to hold a special two-day training session for its inspectors in April to indoctrinate them […]

Audit costs related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for public companies declined for the first time in 2007 as companies and auditors alike grew accustomed to the process, but the joy is muted by a slight increase in overall audit costs. Audit costs related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for public companies declined for the first time in 2007 […]

At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. The questions and responses will then be reprinted in a future edition of Compliance Week. […]