The Center for Audit Quality has released a guide to help auditing firms cope with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspection process.

Cindy Fornelli

Guide to PCAOB Inspections provides a high-level overview of the PCAOB’s process for inspecting public company auditing firms, including the process for selecting and reviewing audits for conformance to audit standards, and the assessment of a firm’s audit quality program.

“The Guide to PCAOB Inspections offers a straightforward introduction to the PCAOB inspections program, which has a significant impact on the quality of public company audits and investor confidence in the integrity of audited financial statements,” said CAQ executive director Cindy Fornelli in a statement. “It contains information about what PCAOB inspectors look for, what an inspection report includes, and how the PCAOB interacts with audit committees and public company auditing firms throughout the inspection process.”

The CAQ’s guide is the latest in a series of publications on topics of interest to investors, public company auditors and the capital markets, more generally. Other CAQ Guides include the Guide to Public Company Auditing, the In-Depth Guide to Public Company Auditing: the Financial Statement Audit, and the Guide to International Financial Reporting Standards.

The free PCAOB inspection guide can be downloaded at http://www.thecaq.org/resources/pdfs/GuidetoPCAOBInspections.pdf.