It’s been 16 years since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act took effect in 2002, and companies are still wrestling with SOX compliance. Now, a new study shows they are paying more to meet the regulation’s requirements and have generally not done a good job of using technology to automate controls and ease Read More
Yesterday, AuditBoard, a cloud-software provider for risk, audit, and compliance work, announced that it had secured a $40 million investment from venture capital firm Battery Ventures. The Los Angeles-based company says it plans to use the funds to support product development, accelerate sales and marketing, and build new business partnerships. 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
Companies are moving to add more automation to their internal controls over financial reporting and plan to increase their investment in automation of ICFR in the next 6-to-18 months, according to a new study. The survey, conducted by the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF), found that more than 80 percent Read More
The additional professional judgment required by the new revenue recognition standard could expose companies to an increased level of fraud, given the inherent opportunity for bias created by a principles-based framework. The new standard moves companies away from a rules-based framework to a more principles-based approach as it relates to Read More
An internal audit has found some major accounting woes in the City of Brotherly Love. An audit report, released Tuesday by City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, cites $924 million in accounting errors last year alone. The city is also missing $33 million from its main bank account, a discrepancy that came Read More
Paint maker PPG Industries has fired its controller and reassigned employees after it found accounting errors mounting into the millions of dollars and said its investigation into alleged violations of its accounting policies continues. PPG said that errors pertained to the first quarter and would result in a $7.8 million Read More
Symantec investors are turning on the cyber-security company after it revealed its board’s audit committee will be conducting an internal audit investigation. Shares are down more than 35 percent, and on track to post their worst day since the tech bubble burst in 2001. The internal audit investigation was reportedly Read More
A U.S. jury on Monday convicted the former chief financial officer of British software company Autonomy of wire fraud and other crimes related to claims by the government that he inflated the firm’s value before its planned sale to Hewlett Packard, a Justice Department spokesman said. Federal prosecutors brought criminal Read More
Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are urging the shareholders of General Electric Co. to vote against keeping accounting firm KPMG. There are “concerns about GE’s previously-undisclosed liabilities and accounting practices,” noted ISS in a report on the subject. KPMG has served as GE’s auditor for 109 Read More
