Audit standards

Recent changes to international standards for audit reports have improved the quality of information that’s available to investors, and had a positive impact on wider elements of financial reporting, including governance and corporate reporting, according to a new report from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Foreign affiliates of KPMG, Deloitte & Touche and BDO have agreed to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for getting involved in audit work that circumvented the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s full oversight.

Efforts in the U.S. and Europe to encourage public companies to change audit firms have largely failed, according to new academic research.

International Federation of Accountants CEO Fayezul Choudhury, and IFAC CFO and executive director for external relations Russell Guthrie, talk about how international financial regulators are mulling changes in how global auditing standards are set.

Internal controls, the new lease accounting standard and cybersecurity are just some of the issues keeping financial executives up at night, according to a new survey by KPMG.

Audit committees at public companies will have plenty on their agendas this year, according to a pair of new reports from KPMG, including new accounting standards, the new tax law, cyber security and more.

Auditing firms cannot be expected to root out evil, or to conduct full forensic investigations.

The board’s staff are offering additional information on determining auditor tenure.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said Wednesday it has imposed a $1.5 million civil penalty against Grant Thornton LLP and censure the firm for violations of quality control standards and for audit failures.

The International Federation of Accountants is expressing alarm about recent proposals from a group of global financial regulators to separate its standard-setting boards for auditing and ethics.