Tag Archives: SEC

SHARE: Recently, the webinar entitled, “Independence Considerations for Alternative Practice Structures,” took place on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. In recent years, there has been a significant amount of consolidation of public accounting firms using alternative practice structures. This activity has raised concerns about the impact such acquisitions may have on auditor independence.    Shana Wolfson, Associate…

SHARE: In recent news, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee released a set of recommendations to improve operations of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) so that it may better serve investor needs. According to the Committee, investors have been concerned that accounting standard-setting has not kept pace with today’s sources of value…

A recent decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, has determined that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house process for handling cases is a violation of the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial in federal civil…

SHARE: On NASBA’s behalf, Chair Laurie J. Tish and President and CEO Ken L. Bishop submitted responses to exposure drafts from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) on February 25. The complete responses can be found on www.nasba.org in the Publications section. The letter to the SEC…

SHARE: “Auditors have a responsibility to properly challenge management to assess and report the impact of climate change on their business,” the United Kingdom’s Financial Reporting Council CEO Sir Jon Thompson announced as the FRC has called for a major review of how companies and auditors are meeting requirements in this area. The FRC intends…

SHARE: To maintain the Securities and Exchange Commission’s credibility and public confidence in its efforts, the Government Accountability Office has recommended the SEC develop written procedures for generating the SEC Division of Enforcement’s public reports and documenting the implementation of those procedures. Since 2017, the Enforcement Division has published a stand-alone “Enforcement Annual Report” that…

SHARE: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with violating auditor independence by performing prohibited non-audit services for 15 SEC-registered audit clients. The SEC’s September 23 order stated the firm had exercised decision-making authority in the design and implementation of software relating to an audit client’s financial reporting and engaged in management…

SHARE: 2018 saw a drop in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s enforcement activities involving accountants, according to a report released by Cornerstone Research in April. The two bodies finalized 45 actions in 2018, while in 2017 they finalized 75 such actions. These efforts resulted in less than $3.3…

SHARE: Employees’ bank accounts in Japan have resulted in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu paying $2 million to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC charged the firm with having issued audit reports for an audit client at a time when dozens of Deloitte Japan’s employees had bank accounts with the audit client’s…

SHARE: The public is being asked to comment on how the Securities and Exchange Commission can enhance, or at a minimum maintain, the investor protection attributes of quarterly reporting while reducing the associated administrative and other burdens on reporting companies. On December 19 the SEC issued a “Request for Comment on Earnings Releases and Quarterly…