PCAOB

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a report Monday on its inspections last year of auditors of brokers and dealers, indicating a continuing high number of audit deficiencies overall, albeit with fewer independence violations than in previous years.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released a draft version of its five-year strategic plan and is asking for public comment.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will award one $10K scholarship each to 332 colleges and universities across the country.

The Center for Audit Quality has published a guide to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s new audit reporting model and the critical audit matters that auditors will be required to start including in their audit reports next year.

Wesley Bricker, chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Chief Accountant, told attendees at the Institute of Management Accountants’ annual conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday about the vital role he sees them playing in financial reporting.

Based on a flawed 1998 study, the war on spreadsheets continues unabated.

The shakeup at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board continued with the announcement Tuesday that Claudius Modesti, director of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations, will be leaving at the end of the month.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board censured Deloitte & Touche LLP and imposed a $500,000 penalty against the Big Four firm for overlooking material accounting errors during three consecutive audits of Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., a Missouri-based IT provider for banks and credit unions.

Martin Baumann's leaving follows last week's resignation of inspections director Helen Munter.

Helen Munter, director of registration and inspections at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, plans to leave the PCAOB at the end of May.