FINANCIAL RESTATEMENTS START TO LEVEL OFF
Sutton, Mass. -- In the past four years, the quantity of financial restatements from Securities Exchange Commission public registrants has leveled off and their severity has remained low, according to a new report by the research firm Audit Analytics, but restatements have increased from accelerated filers for the third straight year.
During 2009, 153 accelerated filers disclosed restatements, followed by 158 in 2010, 202 in 2011, and 245 in 2012. In 2011, Revision restatements (restatements revealed in a periodic report without a prior 8-K, Item 4.02 disclosure that past financials can no longer be relied upon) represented about 65 percent of the restatements disclosed by 10-K filers.
The average number of issues per restatement for 2011 was 1.38, the lowest during the 12 years under review. The average number of days restated was 534 days during 2012, the fifth year in a row with a restatement period above but near 500 days. The average number of days that were corrected by a financial adjustment increased from 508 to 534 days, but even with the uptick, this amount is lower than the six years between 2002 and 2007.
PCAOB FINDS PWC FAILED TO FIX AUDITING PROBLEMS
Washington, D.C. -- The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released previously nonpublic portions of two of its inspections of PwC in early March, saying the firm had failed to address the PCAOB's quality control criticisms.
"The board has determined that as of March 25, 2010, and Aug. 12, 2011, respectively, the firm had not addressed certain criticisms in the reports to the board's satisfaction," said the PCAOB.
PwC notified the PCAOB that it would not seek a review by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the PCAOB's determination, which the firm has a right to do under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC rules, the PCAOB noted. However, PwC asked that a statement by the firm be attached as an appendix to the release of the report.
FASB RETHINKS BUSINESS SEGMENT REPORTING
Norwalk, Conn. -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board may be changing its rules on business segment reporting or issuing additional guidance in response to questions raised during a post-implementation review of a 16-year-old standard. The changes are being contemplated after FASB's parent organization, the Financial Accounting Foundation, conducted a post-implementation review of the business segment reporting standard. The report, which was issued in January, was one of a series of reviews of older accounting standards that the FAF has been spearheading to determine how well the accounting rules have been working in practice.
The review found that the standard generally achieved its intended purpose of improving the way public companies report financial information about their business segments, although some companies are not reporting on all of their business segments or providing enough information on them. FASB now plans to review the issues raised by the post-implementation review with its stakeholders and the staff of the SEC to determine whether further review of the standard is warranted. FASB issued Statement 131 in 1997 to improve the way public companies report financial information about their business segments.
IASB DIVERGES FROM FASB IN REVISED LOAN LOSS PROPOSALS
New York -- The International Accounting Standards Board has published revised proposals for loan loss provisioning and expected credit losses as part of the financial instruments project that it has been working to converge with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, but the two proposals still take different approaches.
The IASB and FASB parted ways on the impairment model for loan losses during a contentious meeting last July after initially agreeing on a common approach to expected losses. They decided to go back to their constituents, gather more feedback and re-expose their proposed changes in the financial instruments standards. The IASB said in March that its proposals build upon previous work to develop a more forward-looking provisioning model that recognizes expected credit losses on a timelier basis.
