Audit News Briefing: 19 November 2015

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

November 18, 2015

SBWire

Global IT Spending by Audit Firms Is Expected to Reach over USD 5 Billion Dollars in Revenues by 2019: ResearchMoz

Press Release: Technavios market research analysts predict the global IT spending by audit firms will witness a steady growth face, reaching over USD 5 billion dollars in revenues by 2019. The audit market is highly concentrated and dominated by the big four firms, including Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG, and PwC. But, mandatory auditor tendering and rotation reforms by various regulators across the globe had led to the entry of several audit firms in this market. Big Four firms are slowly losing their market share as these firms further intensify the competition. Also, audit services are highly regulated and commoditized, thereby reducing differentiation opportunities for audit firms. It is leading to the increased adoption of information technology by audit firms to provide differentiation in their offerings. Please follow link for details: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/industry-analysis/global-it-spending-by-audit-fi/release-642397.htm?utm_source=djournal&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=distribution

ResearchMoz latest research report is entitled "Global IT Spending by Audit Firms 2015-2019: Industry Research, Analysis, Shares, Size, Trends, Growth, Survey, Forecast".

November 17, 2015

CivilSociety.co.uk Finance

Audit firms 'missed fundamental risks' of Kids Company model, say MPs

Bernard Jenkin MP, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee said: The auditors missed the “fundamental risk” that Kids Company operated a “high risk model” of committing almost all its funding to helping its client. This should have been “taken more seriously”. This was the major issue pointed out when MPs have criticised auditors PwC, PKF Littlejohn and Kingston Smith for not scrutinising Kids Company properly and missing key indicators during their dealings with the charity before it folded. Please follow link for details: http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/news/content/20782/audit_firms_missed_fundemental_risks_at_kids_company_say_mps

November 17, 2015

MarketWatch

Big Four audit quality can differ widely — even at the same firm

Board member, Lewis H. Ferguson of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and chair of the global public policy committee working group of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) – at MarketWatch – recently discussed about the significant roles of PCAOB as projected by the U.S. Congress and IFIAR in determining cross-border aspects of audits.

He emphasized that: “It would be a mistake to presume that an audit firm’s inspection results in the United States necessarily speak to the quality of its global network. There can be a real difference among audit deficiency findings for the firms in the United States and what we see at their affiliates around the globe.” In conclusion, “While these inspection results are not a scorecard or a stand-alone measure of audit quality, they do reflect differences in the inspection results among audit firms and in different countries. They may well represent differences in audit quality among firms. At the least, they reflect that each firm’s global network also faces different auditing challenges.”

Please follow link for details: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-four-audit-quality-can-differ-widely-even-at-the-same-firm-2015-11-17