Audit

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.