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Audit & assurance

Auditing

The PCAOB published staff questions and answers about references to authoritative accounting guidance in PCAOB standards. The series of Q&As serves as a reminder that auditors should look to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification and SEC rules for authoritative U.S. GAAP guidance for SEC registrants, even though PCAOB standards may

FASAB Proposes Making AICPA’s Subsequent Events Guidance Authoritative

The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board released an exposure draft, Subsequent Events: Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards. The proposal would incorporate the guidance in the AICPA’s Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS) AU section 560, Subsequent Events, into the authoritative FASAB

SEC Crafts Strategic Goals for 2010–2015

The SEC on Thursday released its draft Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2010–2015, which includes, among other goals, a continued commitment “to promote the establishment of high-quality accounting standards by independent standard setters” and support for “a single set of high-quality global accounting standards.” The draft Strategic Plan is a

PCAOB Revises Effective Date of Rules Requiring Reporting by Registered Firms

The PCAOB postponed the effective date for registered public accounting firms required to report under its new rules to Dec. 31, 2009, from the previous date of Oct. 12, in order to resolve technical issues related to deploying the board’s new Web-based system for processing and publishing filings on the

Highlights

  The AICPA released a set of FAQs and a comment letter relating to a FASB discussion paper on a potential new approach to lease accounting. The March 19, 2009, discussion paper, Leases: Preliminary Views, was issued jointly with the International Accounting Standards Board and responds to concerns raised by

Auditing

  The PCAOB on July 28 passed an auditing standard, Engagement Quality Review (EQR), requiring an independent reviewer to perform EQRs and superseding the existing concurring partner review requirement. If approved by the SEC, the standard will take effect for EQRs of audits and interim reviews for fiscal years that

CAQ Survey: Individual Investor Confidence Rises to 73%

Individual investors’ confidence in U.S. capital markets increased slightly from 2008, with 73% of investors indicating they have at least some confidence compared with 70% last year, according to a telephone survey of 1,000 investors conducted by the Center for Audit Quality and The Glover Park Group released Wednesday. This

PCAOB Publishes Q&A on References to Authoritative Accounting Guidance

The PCAOB on Wednesday published staff questions and answers about references to authoritative accounting guidance in PCAOB standards. The series of Q&As serves as a reminder that auditors should look to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification and SEC rules for authoritative U.S. GAAP guidance for SEC registrants, even though PCAOB

Assessing the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Calculating estimates of the collectibility of accounts receivable and auditing those estimates is difficult. This article describes three techniques for assessing allowance for doubtful accounts estimates and complying with Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) no. 57 and AU section 342, Auditing Accounting Estimates, which suggest auditors compare prior accounting estimates

Auditing

  The PCAOB voted to adopt an amendment to a rule on the timing of certain inspections of registered non-U.S. public accounting firms. The amendment to PCAOB Rule 4003(g) gives the board the ability to postpone, for up to three years, the first inspection of any foreign registered public accounting

SEC Approves PCAOB Reporting Rules

The SEC has approved PCAOB rules requiring registered public accounting firms to report certain events. The rules take effect Oct. 12. They implement a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and are the first reporting obligations imposed on registered firms by the board. Under the rules, certain events that

Auditing

  The AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board issued Statement of Position (SOP) 09-1, Performing Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements That Address the Completeness, Accuracy, or Consistency of XBRL-Tagged Data. This interpretative SOP, drafted with the assistance of the XBRL Assurance Task Force of the AICPA Assurance Services Executive Committee, provides guidance regarding the

PCAOB to Vote on Engagement Quality Review Auditing Standard

The PCAOB on Tuesday will vote on adopting an auditing standard, Engagement Quality Review, which would require EQRs to be performed by an independent reviewer and would supersede the existing concurring partner review requirement.  The new standard would require an EQR for audits and reviews of interim financial information (“interim

ASB Seeks Comments on Exposure Drafts

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board issued two exposure drafts resulting from its clarity project: Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS), Quality Control for an Audit of Financial Statements. The proposed SAS specifies quality control procedures at the engagement level that assist the auditor in achieving the objectives of the quality

ARSC’s Work Plan to Revise SSARSs

Editor’s note: This is a Web-exclusive sidebar to “A Fresh Approach for Compilation and Review.”   At the time that the AICPA Reliability Task Force communicated its recommendations to ARSC, ARSC was undergoing a major project to recodify the standards for compilation and review engagements. ARSC had determined that, if

Government

  GASB released a statement that incorporates accounting and financial reporting guidance, which was previously only contained in the AICPA’s auditing literature, into GASB’s financial reporting literature for state and local governments. Statement no. 56, Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards,

A Fresh Approach for Compilation and Review

The AICPA’s Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) has proposed the most significant changes to the professional literature for compilation and review engagements since the December 1978 issuance of SSARS no. 1, Compilation and Review of Financial Statements. The proposed Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARSs), issued

Highlights

  The PCAOB issued Staff Audit Practice Alert no. 4 to describe potential implications of three FASB Staff Positions on reviews of interim financial information and annual audits. The FSPs relate to fair value measurement and other-than-temporary impairment. They are: FSP FAS 157-4, Determining Fair Value When the Volume and

Compilation and Review Engagements: Why Tackle This Project Now?

Editor’s note: This article is a sidebar to “A Fresh Approach for Compilation and Review.” Based on concerns expressed by stakeholders in compilation and review engagements, the Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) turned to the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) for help in its consideration of how to

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