Audit preparation

The board released a staff report outlining its inspections plans and highlighting key risks.

Ark Pro CPAs topped the league tables in the third quarter, with five new SEC clients, all in China.

The company has added outsourced tax and advisory services for CPA firms as part of the renaming.

The audit overseer hit at least nine different firms, with fines totaling approximately $4 million.

The outcomes of this project will provide a clear-eyed vision of how we move the profession forward and collectively elevate the value of internal audit in the years ahead.

The board imposed a $175,000 fine on Smythe LLP, a Vancouver-based firm, for violating its rules and quality control standards on four audits.

The real estate company has been trying to hire a new auditor since its previous one, KPMG, quit in May last year.

The PCAOB released a report that found 42% of auditing firms got at least one quality control criticism related to engagement quality reviews.

"These findings are damning," Jon Holt, CEO of KPMG in the U.K., said. "It is clear to me that our audit work on Carillion was very bad."

The commission charged the Top 100 Firm with violating auditor independence rules on many occasions.

The standard reflects the many changes in technology, communications and business practices since an interim standard was first adopted decades ago.

The board levied a $2 million penalty against the Chicago-based Top 10 Firm for violating its auditing rules and standards, and sanctioned two of its audit partners.

The board issued a proposal to amend its rule for an individual auditor's or firm's contributory liability for knowingly or recklessly contributing to violations.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board imposed a $30,000 civil penalty against K.R. Margetson and its sole partner for quality control violations and revoked his firm's registration for a year.

A March acquisition continued to yield dividends for the Cleveland-based Top 50 Firm; Deloitte and CohnReznick also saw big gains.

While companies are working in overdrive to fill accounting positions, they are finding themselves up against a confluence of factors.

The London-based auditor gave a clean bill of health to a music streaming company that wildly overstated its revenue.

The board continues its aggressive approach to oversight, announcing several hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties on several auditors in a single week.

The board saw high rates of deficiency last year, with little to no improvement over prior years.