Audit

LinkedIn has recently launched a special group for accountants that is already attracting a growing group of accountants.

The National Taxpayer Advocate is raising concerns about the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service’s increasing reliance on correspondence exams instead of face-to-face audits.

Corporate audit giant Ernst & Young operates a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., that has been hired in recent years by several corporations that were at the same time E&Y audit clients, prompting two senior lawmakers to demand closer regulatory scrutiny.

The world's largest accounting and auditing firms, known as the Big Four, have been pumping more money than ever before into U.S. lobbying and political campaigns as they confront new challenges from their regulator and Congress.

Regulators are seriously seven major changes in financial reporting that could be game changers for accountants.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to hold a series of meetings to discuss a proposal to require mandatory audit firm rotation.

Firm News -- March 9

Grant Thornton has released a new paper calling for an overhaul in the current thinking of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board on lease accounting standards, instead advocating the use of two different lease accounting models.

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Hans Hoogervorst told attendees at a financial conference in Mexico City that the board plans to give accountants a period of relative stability to give them time to adjust to all the new standards.

The New York State Society of CPAs expressed its support for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s proposals for improving communications between auditors and audit committees, but objected to several of the new requirements.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added a new project to its agenda to re-examine the definition of a “nonpublic entity,” as part of its efforts to reach out more to private company constituents.

Guarini Takes Helm at GH•D

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued its latest inspection report on BDO USA and found several audit failures and deficiencies.

Michael Andrew, the chairman of KPMG International, sees a variety of audit risks arising in the global financial markets.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to host forums for auditors of small businesses and smaller broker-dealers.

A new study suggests that using online video to announce a financial restatement can lead to an erosion in investor trust if not handled properly.

IMGCAP(1)]Regulators are favoring more disclosure in annual reports prepared for public companies for fiscal year 2011, but they are also bringing in a dose of reasonableness in regards to burdensome valuation requirements.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants has released for public exposure proposed changes to the definition of “engagement team” in the IESBA Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are not seeing eye to eye on an important component of their leasing standards project involving income statement changes for lessees.

Daniel Goelzer has been a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board since the board was first established under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and he is completing his second and final term this Friday.