KPMG Gets Sued Because Their Longtime Client Went Down in Flames
We knew this was coming. Bloomberg has reported that Silicon Valley Bank auditors KPMG have been sued — along with underwriters Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley — after SVB’s spectacular collapse on March 10. KPMG audited the bank for nearly 30 years. Similar to previous suits, a complaint filed Friday in the […]
KPMG Offering Expanded Audit Reports Because Regular Audit Reports are Useless
As part of its campaign to restore trust in audit in the wake of the financial crisis, the firm experimented with increasing the amount of useful information provided in the new long-form audit report, way beyond the minimum regulatory requirements. As well as reporting on the risks and the auditors’ response to them, KPMG also […]
It’s Completely Understandable Someone Might Sign Over 200 Audit Reports By Mistake
The LOLs just keep coming from across the pond — why doesn't the AICPA make a bigger deal out of accountants behaving badly? I'd love to see these stories front and center on the Journal of Accountancy like the ICAEW does with economia. Today's tale of accounting gone wrong is a woman who not only […]
Auditors Tell PCAOB They’d Rather Not Report on the Already Reported On
Back in August of 2013, the PCAOB floated a few new auditing standards that would bring major changes to audit reports: The Auditor's Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion, which would supersede portions of AU sec. 508, Reports on Audited Financial Statements, and The Auditor's Responsibilities Regarding […]
Audit Partners Are About to Get Famous
But probably not in ways they would prefer:
In a recently updated standard-setting agenda, PCAOB Chief Auditor Marty Baumann says the board is working on the proposal to address concerns about audit transparency. The board published a concept release in July 2009 that asked for feedback on whether the engagement partner should be required to sign the audit report. Based on feedback to that release and subsequent discussions with the board’s advisory groups, the PCAOB is preparing a new requirement for audit firms to say in their audit reports which engagement partner at the firm supervised the audit and who from outside the audit firm participated in the audit.
Quote of the Day | 01.25.10
“An auditor’s report tells less about a public company’s health than a doctor’s report tells about an individual – in scope, detail and precision. And if investors and other financial information users are not happy, they are doing nothing to make their dissatisfactions effectively known.”
~ Jim Peterson, from his post “Medical Check-Ups and Annual Audits: What if Your Doctor Reported Like Your Accountant?” at Re:Balance.