Audit preparation

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.

The board is looking for nominations for new members of its Investor Advisory Group and its Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group.

Digital World Acquisition blasted Marcum for not adhering to "requisite audit procedures" that would have identified the accounting errors sooner.

At the same time, the number of companies reporting their audit fees has dropped roughly 20%.

The board disciplined five auditing firms for violating its rules and standards when communicating with audit committees.