Category: Accounting and Auditing

SEC Chair and staff presentations at AICPA National Conference

by Cydney Posner SEC Chair Mary Jo White and a cast of thousands from the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant delivered remarks yesterday before the 2015 AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments. Summarized below are some of the key themes of their speeches:

Two tips for audit committees

by Cydney Posner It’s getting to be that time of year when visions of sugarplums may dance in your head — alongside more mundane thoughts and concerns about financial statements, audits, audit committees and year-end reporting that just might disturb your otherwise pleasant holiday season.  With that in mind, this column  in […]

Will clawbacks have an unintended consequence?

by Cydney Posner A recent  study, “Why Do Restatements Decrease in a Clawback Environment? An Investigation into Financial Reporting Executives’ Decision-Making during the Restatement Process,” shows that clawbacks may have unintended consequences.  The study, conducted by an academic at Miami University of Ohio and published in The Accounting Review, showed […]

Another study shows increase in enhanced disclosures regarding the audit committee

by Cydney Posner The Center for Audit Quality and Audit Analytics have jointly released their second-year analysis, Audit Committee Transparency Barometer.  The analysis, which studied proxy statements of companies in the S&P Composite 1500, showed “double-digit growth in the percentage of S&P 500 companies disclosing information in several key areas […]

Are companies making progress in preparing for the new revenue recognition standard?

by Cydney Posner As former Corp Fin Director John White observed during the PLI Securities Regulation Institute last week, the new revenue recognition standard will represent a massive change for many companies. Perhaps with that in mind, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr, in an October speech before the UCI Audit Committee […]

SEC Chief Accountant advises on audit committee responsibilities

by Cydney Posner In remarks before the UCI Audit Committee Summit at the end of October, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr addressed the importance of the oversight role that audit committees play, providing specific advice on inquiries that audit committee members should pursue. He focuses on four areas: the SEC’s concept […]

Corp Fin Director highlights recent issues in public offerings

by Cydney Posner At PLI’s Securities Regulation Institute this morning, Corp Fin Director Keith Higgins highlighted* some recent issues the staff has identified in the context of public offerings.

AS 18 creates a new buzz about related-party transactions for the audit of 2015

by Cydney Posner As discussed in this PubCo post, last year the PCAOB adopted Auditing Standard No. 18, Related Parties, addressing related-party transactions, significant unusual transactions and transactions with executive officers. (See the standard , related fact sheet and SEC release.) These types of transactions are considered to pose an increased risk of […]

Study shows financial restatements are “handbooks of trickery” for copycat peer companies

by Cydney Posner No, it’s not from The Onion.  According to a study reported in CFO.com,  unless the restating company faces regulatory action or shareholder litigation, the company’s competitors may use its financial restatement as a how-to guide.  The study found that, instead of driving peer companies to examine their […]

SEC seeks comment on effectiveness of Reg S-X rules that require disclosure about entities other than the reporting company

by Cydney Posner The SEC is requesting comment on certain Reg S-X rules as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Project.  The request relates specifically to the financial disclosure requirements in Reg S-X that require public reporting companies to provide financial information about entities other than the reporting company — acquired businesses, […]