Audit & Accounting

There has been a growing demand over the past 10 years for information on corporate behavior, which could include environmental impact, employee health and safety initiatives, community development, supply chain practices, and a host of other topics. A lot of these issues are addressed through sustainability reporting.

A BUSY SUMMER

The Securities and Exchange Commission has written to Groupon asking the company behind the popular group discount site to clarify the accounting measures it used in its filing for an initial public offering.

PwC has released the second edition of “A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation,” providing a step-by-step approach to fraud prevention, investigation and deterrence.

IMGCAP(1)]With Medicare fraud costing the federal government an estimated $60 billion a year, it makes perfect sense that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has tapped aerospace innovator Northrop Grumman to create a predictive model that will detect fraud. Or does it?

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and the American Institute of CPAs have launched a new Web site, CPAmobility.org, that provides up-to-date information on the status of CPA mobility laws across the country.

IMGCAP(1)]The use of third-party practice aids and audit programs has become widespread as an economical and effective means of keeping audit materials up to date and comprehensive. However, some auditors have become too checklist oriented, driven in part by these standardized audit materials. Use of these types of materials creates risks that auditors may get lost in the completion of the checklist and lose sight of what they should be doing, which is assessing and responding to audit risk.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has beefed up its standards for multiple-employer pension plans, requiring employers to provide more information about their pension plan obligations, particularly for unionized employees.

Michael Andrew, chairman-elect of KPMG International, announced the firm's new leadership team today, including a new deputy chairman and new global heads of tax and advisory, as well as a new regional leader in Asia-Pacific.

A federal judge is allowing a shareholder lawsuit to proceed against a group of auditing firms that signed off on audits of China Expert Technology, a company they have accused of committing accounting fraud.