Audit

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.

Firm News -- March 2

E&Y TO PAY PCAOB $2M TO SETTLE AUDIT CHARGES

It is well past the time to think of accountants as bean counters. Unfortunately, the recent piece by Professors Miller & Bahnson ("Some evidence that the AICPA's management has lost its focus," December 2011, page 20) places the profession back into the audit closet.

For The Spirit of Accounting's 10th anniversary in 2006, we reminisced about events over that decade, including this synopsis of a misjudgment that may be the worst ever:

The American Institute of CPAs told the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board at a hearing Tuesday that the IRS needs to improve its correspondence audit program to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules aimed at safeguarding investors from identity theft by requiring broker-dealers, mutual funds and other SEC-regulated entities create programs to detect and respond to “red flags” indicating possible identity theft.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board voted Tuesday to issue for public comment a proposed auditing standard on related-party transactions, and to amend standards on significant unusual transactions and auditors of broker-dealers.