SEC

The short version of Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy story goes something like this: Global pandemic obliterates the travel business and lands an iconic 102-year-old company in court to seek protection from creditors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to add amendments to its rules and forms to improve financial information about acquired or disposed businesses for investors, and decrease the complexity and costs of preparing such disclosures.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that could lead to Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. being barred from listing on U.S. stock exchanges amid increasingly tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday settled charges against three former KPMG audit partners for sharing answers to internal training exams.

EY leads among the largest auditors in the first quarter of 2020.

The auditing profession is responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic by adjusting how it conducts audits, and that’s evident in the Center for Audit Quality, whose CEO, Julie Bell Lindsay, took over the leadership job when the priorities for the profession and the CAQ looked far different.

Public companies are dealing with a variety of financial reporting difficulties in the face of the unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it’s having on businesses of all sizes.

When it comes to companies exposed to emerging markets — most notably China — investors should beware the lack of visibility into their books.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently voted to exempt many smaller public companies from the Sarbanes-Oxley requirement for auditor attestations of their internal controls over financial reporting, but many companies have been able to bypass those audits anyway.

Whitley Penn launches strategic consulting services practice; Illinois CPA Society announces 2019 Excel Award winners; and more CPA news.