Audit News Briefing: 7 July 2016

Audit-is-cool is pleased to accumulate and provide its readers with the news on audit and related topics:

July 7, 2016

CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

Financial Execs Struggle To Measure and Mitigate Risks

Accounting and Audit segment of CPA Practice Advisor highlighted this struggle through managing editor Isaac M. O’Bannon.

Basis: New Survey conducted by Grant Thornton LLP. Accounting and Business Consultancy, which states – Almost two-thirds of executives or 64% see strategic risk as a highly significant threat to their organizations compared to other types of risk – including compliance risk, operational risk and financial risk.

Among the important audit issues highlighted are as follows:

·         21% of organizations don’t rate third parties by the risks they pose, and nearly half or 41% don’t audit any of their third parties.

·         For departments involved in GRC activities, 43% of executives cite skill shortages in audit departments, while 38% cite skill shortages in operations leadership/management departments.

Please follow link for details: http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/news/12229007/financial-execs-struggle-to-measure-and-mitigate-risks

July 5, 2016

Australian Financial Review

The Big Four firms are now more technology than accounting

AFR data editor Edmund Tadros recently raised the concern that fast-growing areas of consulting, technology and digital services have already outpaced the companies’ original accounting roots. “Only one in five partners appointed to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, EY and KPMG in the past year were in the traditional businesses of audit and assurance,” he said.

According to Lynn Kraus, the head of markets at EY Oceania: “Over the last two years, the acquisitions that the big four firms have been making are hugely different to four or five years ago … At EY, we've made six acquisitions over 24 months, all with a lens for this whole concept for digital and cyber skills.”

Please follow link for details: http://www.afr.com/business/accounting/the-big-four-firms-now-more-technology-than-accounting-20160701-gpwsd7

June 30, 2016

AccountancyAge

One in 20 audit firms quit as market evolves

June 2016 Key Facts and Trends in the Accounting Profession

By Financial Reporting Council (FRC.org.uk)

https://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Publications/Professional-Oversight/Key-Facts-and-Trends-2016.pdf

This is the FRC (watchdog) publication report which head editor Kevin Reed have recently featured in Accountancy Age. It indicated considerable changes in the accounting profession, particularly in the field of audit — 304 practices have dropped their audit licence since December 2014. Taking into account that in 2004, there were 9,950 that are into UK’s accounting profession – it extensively decreased to 6,331 or a 4.6% fall.

Please follow link for details: https://www.accountancyage.com/2016/06/30/one-in-20-audit-firms-quit-as-market-evolves/

June 27, 2016

The Straits Times

Audit sector 'can benefit from opportunities tech brings'

Singapore-based English daily broadsheet newspaper featured the important role of technology in the accounting profession. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said, "The audit sector is one which can leverage new technologies to develop new capabilities in advanced audit analytics." This is during his opening address at Deloitte University Asia Pacific in Amara Sanctuary Resort in Sentosa, a centre set up by the Big Four accounting firm to groom employees into leaders.

Please follow link for details: http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/audit-sector-can-benefit-from-opportunities-tech-brings