Big Four audit firm KPMG LLP will pay $50 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges in the KPMG cheating scandal. The SEC had alleged that the firm altered past audit work after receiving stolen information about inspections of the firm that would be conducted by the Public Company Read More
The Center for Audit Quality reminded internal auditors that they have a role to play in the regular assessment of the job that the external auditor is doing. In an update to its External Auditor Assessment Tool, released today, the CAQ states that while the audit committee should lead the Read More
In the post–Sarbanes-Oxley world, internal auditors have increasingly assumed a larger role in corporate governance. For example, Deloitte notes that “if not for the internal audit profession, the business landscape would likely be littered with significantly more disclosures of material weaknesses and revelations of noncompliance with the [Sarbanes-Oxley] Act” (“Optimizing Read More
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has announced a $335 million settlement with PricewaterhouseCoopers to resolve professional negligence claims arising out of audits PwC conducted of the failed Colonial Bank, located in Alabama. On December 28, 2017, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama held PwC Read More
KPMG’s U.K. unit will stop providing consulting and tax advice to all of the large listed companies it audits after accusations that the practice has compromised its independence. The firm will lose up to £80 million in fees ($103 million), or 40 percent of its audit revenues. It is fighting Read More
The European Union’s new data privacy rules have been in effect for more than two months now, yet many companies haven’t done much to ensure they are abiding by them, according to a recent survey. The poll, conducted by Deloitte during a webcast in late June, found that only about Read More
(Photo: Audit Report by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 ImageCreator) The Center for Audit Quality has issued some much-needed guidance on critical audit matters (CAMs), a new reporting requirement that external auditors will need to start including in their audit reports as early as next year. While the new requirements Read More
A recent article from Deloitte in the Wall Street Journal notes the opportunity for internal audit to take advantage of Big Data and data analytics. Sure, it’s a sponsored article as part of Deloitte’s relationship with the WSJ, but the article nonetheless has some good nuggets of wisdom on how Read More
A federal judge on Monday said PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP must pay $625.3 million in damages to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for failing to uncover fraud that led to one of the largest bank failures of the global financial crisis. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein found it more likely than not Read More
KPMG’s audit work in the United Kingdom is of an unacceptable standard, Britain’s accounting regulator said, fueling calls to reform the industry, including dismantling Big Four firms. In an unprecedented assessment, the Financial Reporting Council said auditors at KPMG don’t challenge management enough, aren’t sufficiently skeptical, and are inconsistent in Read More
