Audit

Listen to Your Auditor or Pay the Price Later

By Daniel L Goelzer

Audits often uncover financial reporting mistakes. When a misstatement is detected, the auditor proposes to company management an adjustment to correct the error. However, in the case of adjustments that…

Would Auditing Improve If the PCAOB Brought More Enforcement Actions?

Do Audit Committees Avoid Accounting Firms That Uncover Material Weaknesses?

Two researchers at the University of Arkansas have published a paper finding that audit firms that report material weaknesses in a client’s internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) pay an…

PCAOB Staff Guidance on Auditor Communications with Audit Committees About Independence Rule Breaches

By Dan Goelzer and Tom Riesenberg

It has often been said — and we fully agree — that auditor independence is essential to the…

Does the PCAOB Undermine Auditor Professionalism?

In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and transformed public company auditing in the United States from a self-regulated, to a regulated, profession. The PCAOB’s statutory mission is to “further…

UK Developments

It may seem that Brexit is the only public policy issue currently being debated in the United Kingdom. But there is a surprising runner-up for governmental attention: the regulation and operation of audits.