Audit

Companies are leaning more on risk management technology, with 72% planning on increasing their spending on technology to support the detection and management of risks.

Deloitte is denying a report this week that it plans to spin off its audit practice as a separate entity from its consulting practice as rival Big Four firm Ernst & Young contemplates such a move.

Two decades after passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, public companies are spending more time and money trying to comply with SOX requirements, despite the increasing use of technology to automate the process.

The profession needs to leverage both its unrivaled reputation for trustworthiness and its creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, say leaders at the AICPA.

The commission charged the Top 20 Firm and three of its partners Wednesday, and the firm agreed to pay a $1.9 million penalty to investors.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was fined almost £5 million pounds ($6.22 million) for a series of poor audits of two U.K. construction companies, as the regulator continued to crack down on audit failings by the Big Four.

Executives resent the cost and interference of auditors; investors see them as a safety net that is only noticeable when it fails.

The board plans to hold a meeting next Wednesday with its reconstituted Investor Advisory Group, the first meeting in nearly four years with one of its biggest stakeholders.

The service is taking steps to increase its audit rates of higher-income taxpayers after coming under sharp criticism in Congress over its lagging audit numbers.

Ernst & Young is reportedly considering spinning off the auditing side of the firm to deal with growing pressure on the Big Four to avoid conflicts of interest with their consulting practices.

A possible split confronts the problem faced by all breakups: How do you create attractive businesses out of both when one is likely to be seen as inferior?

Sweeping audit reforms are aimed at reining in the dominance of the big firms and cleaning up the industry following a string of high-profile scandals.

Several hurdles remain in an impasse over audits on U.S.-listed Chinese companies to avoid forcing them off American exchanges as early as next year, an SEC official said.

Hong Kong’s accountant body said it failed to reach an accord to prolong an 11-year mutual recognition agreement with the U.S. amid a dispute over local qualifications.

A KPMG report showed Cevdet Caner — who was not supposed to have any direct role in the company — setting meetings, weighing in on pay and berating executives.

R&D amortization; FAQs’ limits; ‘tax’ by any other name; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

The FRC fined the Big Four firm and partner Anthony Sykes over its 2010 audit of the carmaker, the latest in a long list of audit scandals surrounding the firm.

The committee is looking for a new chairperson as its current chair, Paul Sobel, plans to depart at the end of the year. 

The Big Four firm will pay more than $17.1 million over misconduct on major work it carried out for collapsed Carillion Plc and data services company Regenersis.

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