Year: 2015

IIA CEO – We are not “bean counters”

IIA CEO Richard Chambers makes a impassioned plea for members of the profession to stand up for themselves and fight back against some of the common stereotypes. Key Quotes “today internal auditors … examine how the beans are grown, how they are harvested, and how they are taken to market” “the critical characteristics of a …

FEI – Audit committee relationships key to success

FEI Daily reports from the Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference (CFRI) that audit committee members and audit committee chairs want and need more and better communication from finance managers and executives at their company. “I talk with the chief accounting officer or head of internal audit on a monthly basis,” Cyprus said. “I don’t want to …

CPAs as Crime Fighters

This isn’t our usual fare, but we found it pretty fascinating. The Journal of Accountancy has a great article running on the CPA as a Criminal Pursuing Agent. Durkin was an FBI agent working undercover as he had a drink with known members of an organized crime group at a fancy restaurant in Los Angeles. …

Accenture: The Finance Department as We Know it is Dead

Writing in CFO Magazine, David Axson, Managing Director of  Accenture’s Strategy, CFO & Enterprise Value practice tells us that the finance organization of the future will be nothing like that of  today: Finance 2020 — tomorrow’s digital finance organization — is a radical departure from the status quo. It deals in analytics and forward-looking decisions to …

PCAOB Audit Quality Indicator (AQI) Exposure Draft – SVA Response

Note: You can read our entire comment letter to the PCAOB on the Audit Quality Indicator Exposure draft The PCAOB recently released an exposure draft for a set of proposed Audit Quality Indicators.    In releasing the exposure draft for comment, the Board stated the following goals: The goal of the AQI project is to improve …

Forbes: No Single Close Technology is a Panacea

Writing in Forbes,  Jay Humphries notes that “The pressure for an accelerated accounting close can be relentless”.    We agree, and have seen this pressure through industry.  In addition, Humphries notes that while technology can help to overcome some challenges, by itself, it is an incomplete approach, and that “A successful, holistic approach must account for …

Audit Fees Rise Again in 2014 – Do They Ever Go Down?

Jason Bramwell at AccountingWeb reports on the Annual Audit Fee Survey from  Financial Executives Research Foundation . Among the key findings: Audit fees paid by SEC filers last year averaged $1.5 million Nearly 21 percent of SEC filers reported ineffective internal controls over financial reporting Public companies as a whole realized a 3.1 percent median increase …