Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Center for Audit Quality Managed to Find Some People Confident in Audits

With PCAOB inspection rates at their most embarrassing ever these days, you'd think most educated people would not be all that confident in audits. Of course, most "normal" people don't stay up on PCAOB inspection rates.

We do, of course, which is why we thought it was hilarious that the Center for Audit Quality was able to find so many people who trust audited financial information. In the CAQ's 2014 Main Street Investor Survey, eighty percent of retail investors exhibited confidence in U.S. public companies, the highest level recorded since the CAQ began surveying on the topic in 2007. Investor confidence in U.S. capital markets has climbed to 73%, up 12 percentage points since 2011.

"These findings should encourage anyone with an interest in the health of our capital markets," said CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli. "They bode well not just for investors, but for the entire U.S. economy, which relies on vibrant financial markets as an engine of capital formation and economic growth."

Of course she said that. It's her job to say that. If she said anything other than that, then we'd really have to get worried.

Now here's the truly hilarious part. These people surveyed express the most confidence in independent auditors:

Asked how much confidence they have in a number of different entities when it comes to effective­ness in looking out for investors’ interests, investors express the most confidence in independent auditors (75%), followed closely by audit committees (71%). They also show a robust level of confidence in stock exchanges: 70%, up from 48% in 2011.

75%, huh? That's approximately the same percentage of audits Deloitte managed to get right in 2013 of those inspected by the PCAOB.

Who are these clowns? And how can I get in touch with them? I have an awesome MLM opportunity I'd like to discuss with them.

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Comments are closed.

Related articles

Broken lightbulb isolated on white

Kill the Audit Industry, Says Ex-Auditor

In the WaPo opinion pages yesterday one Duncan Mavin, who got his start in the 90s, says the best way to solve the audit industry’s many conflicts is to kill it altogether. He starts the piece summoning the ghost of Enron, as all writers do when discussing what happens when audit goes wrong. Bringing things […]

Treasure chest on the beach

KPMG Gets Sued, Accused of Allowing Pirate-Like Activity at Credit Suisse

Discountenanced Credit Suisse stockholder Gregory Stevenson is suing 29 of Credit Suisse’s current and former directors and officers, the bank’s ex-auditor KPMG, and various KPMG henchmen on behalf of investors alleging the firm looked the other way while aforementioned directors and officers plundered the bank for more than a decade. The docket number is No. […]