Audit

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has voted to proceed with issuing a long-awaited standard in June on credit losses on loans and other financial instruments, a key component of its financial instruments convergence project with the International Accounting Standards Board, and to defer the effective date for one year.

The Vatican’s Holy See has suspended its contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers but stressed that the suspension is not due to problems with PwC’s work.

To improve accountability around the world, representatives of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Center for Audit Excellence and the U.S. Agency for International Development signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to set up a framework for collaboration on training and technical assistance efforts.

Drew Bernstein of Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk discusses the challenges and benefits of auditing companies in China in this video.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published an alert describing concerns from the PCAOB staff about auditors improperly altering audit documentation in connection with a PCAOB inspection or investigation.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an accounting standards update amending its revenue recognition standard to provide further guidance on performance obligations and licensing.

Harriet Tubman, the leader of the Underground Railroad that brought slaves to freedom before the Emancipation Proclamation, will be the new face on the $20 bill, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced penalties in two financial fraud cases Tuesday against companies and their former executives accused of various accounting failures that left investors without accurate depictions of company finances.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released two preliminary reports Tuesday offering previews of its 2015 inspections of firms that audit publicly traded companies and broker-dealers.

The number of accounting-related securities class-action filings increased for the third year in a row in 2015, according to a new report.

The American Institute of CPAs has begun offering intermediate and advanced certificates to CPAs who perform “single audits” of governmental entities and grantees and audits of employee benefit plans.

Approximately two-thirds of companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average reported non-GAAP earnings per share, according to a study last year, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is beginning to wonder if the trend has gone too far.

Drew Bernstein of Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk explains the challenges of auditing in emerging markets like China.

The London-based International Valuation Standards Council is asking for input on some of its new standards for performing valuations on financial instruments, real estate and intangibles.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to propose amending the auditing standards on an audit firm’s use of other audit firms and to propose a new auditing standard.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has introduced an Environmental, Health & Safety Audit Center to highlight the growing role of EHS auditors in corporate governance.

Accountants can play an important role in deterring human trafficking and smuggling.

For years, the conversation around XBRL and data-based reporting was theoretical. Though the SEC began requiring companies to report financial statements as data in XBRL format in 2009 (in addition to document versions), there’s been no dramatic evolution in how we think about financial reporting and analysis.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued guidance Monday addressing several practical issues raised by stakeholders during implementation of GASB’s pension accounting and financial reporting standards for state and local governments.

A long-awaited regulation from the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 requires companies to disclose the ratio of the CEO’s compensation to the median pay of employees and could prove to be effective in restraining the growth of CEO pay, according to a new study.