Audit & Accounting

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission issued its updated Internal Control–Integrated Framework (Framework) and related illustrative documents on Tuesday.

Compliance costs for Sarbanes-Oxley and external audit fees both increased last year, according to a new survey, but for most organizations the cost of SOX compliance remains at a manageable level.

The Center for Audit Quality has written to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to offer its perspectives on audit quality indicators in preparation for a meeting later this week of the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group.

The American Institute of CPAs has a number of high-profile items on the agenda for its Spring Meeting of Council next week, including re-evaluating its recognition of the International Accounting Standards Board as a standard-setter, changing the definition of attest services and globalizing more of its credentials.

The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, which advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board on its priorities and agenda, is asking for suggestions on what FASB’s future agenda should be.

Representatives of the International Accounting Standards Board and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan met Thursday and Friday in Tokyo to discuss their new relationship through the recently established Accounting Standards Advisory Forum as their one-to-one meetings come to an end.

Surveys, sponsorships and more…

The United Kingdom’s Financial Reporting Council said Thursday that it has open an investigation into whether KPMG’s audit firm in the U.K. was independent when it conducted audits of automobile dealer Pendragon PLC.

Intacct has unveiled Flex Reporting, a new tool designed to allow strategic CFOs to manage performance, look at financial metrics -- particularly accounting measures-- and performance related information unique to an organization.

A new academic study funded by the Center for Audit Quality scrutinizes the role of the external auditor in fraudulent financial reporting and found that the top areas cited by the Securities and Exchange Commission were failure to gather sufficient competent audit evidence, failure to exercise due professional care, and insufficient level of professional skepticism.