Friday, November 27, 2015

Audit News Briefing: 27 November 2015

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

November 24, 2015
CFO Daily News
Auditors scrutinized by regulators when companies face fraud allegations
Three powerful regulatory entities were highlighted in the Internal Controls segment of CFO Daily last Tuesday (Nov 24) –
·         the Department of Justice (DOJ)
·         the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
·         the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

One of these three formidable entities could get attention whenever financial fraud allegations arise at any public company. DOJ leads the pack by receiving complaints and commencing criminal investigation. Collaboratively, the SEC carries out two federal initiatives aimed at detecting and prosecuting financial fraud:  the Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force and Operation Broken Gate. PCAOB investigations originate from several sources, including the PCAOB’s own investigations, information disclosed in SEC or other agency investigations, or other public sources.  The PCAOB has authority to investigate accounting firms and associated persons primarily to ensure compliance with professional responsibilities.

Strong compliance program determines what action or sanction may necessarily be imposed. Strong internal controls is said to be the key to enable auditors to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

Please follow link for details:

November 20, 2015
Accounting Today
U.S.: CPA Pleads Guilty in Accounting Fraud Scheme
Last Wednesday (Nov 18), a New York CPA firm partner pleaded guilty to participating in a multimillion-dollar accounting fraud scheme. He performed year-end audits of the financial statements for an unidentified Florida-based cosmetics company.

“Marc Wieselthier has admitted to lying about the financial condition of a company to induce banks to lend the company millions of dollars,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement. “Relying on false information, the banks made loans that ended up defaulting with nearly $5 million still owed. Wieselthier now joins his co-conspirators in awaiting sentencing for his crime.”


November 16, 2015
Accounting Today

PwC Transforms Audit Practice with Data Analytics
PricewaterhouseCoopers audit practice is becoming more sophisticated as the firm is leveraging data analytics technology. The transformation includes documentation or evidence management as well as audit process automation.
Bill Brennan, managing partner of assurance transformation at PwC – said:
·         “We’d like to think that we have been transforming the way we audit for decades, especially in light of everything that’s been going on in the marketplace, particularly with the regulatory changes that have impacted us,”
·         “Starting north of 10 years ago, we introduced to our auditors worldwide Aura. It’s basically the way we execute the documentation and where our evidence resides for our audit efforts. Aura is used by almost 100,000 people all around the world.”
·         “We automate certain processes that we’ve been doing manually for decades, maybe even a century,”
·         “The second piece is process. How can we improve the process by which we execute the audits, the approach, if you will. We have a tagline called ‘Engagement, Performance and Quality.’ It takes project management process improvement and injects it into the equation. You can have the greatest technology in the world, but if you don’t have good processes, it’s going to be useless. Then the last thing is people. How do we develop our people? How do we train them? How do we equip their skills such that they can adapt to the changes in not only the regulatory environment, but our own audit approach. How can we teach them to leverage data and analyze data in a wholesome way? You can have a great tool, but if the people are not equipped to do it, then it’s useless.”

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