Accounting Profession

Gallup Poll Provides Food for Thought I have previously blogged about the ethics and honesty of those who work in various professions based on a 2023 Gallup Poll. Gallup published its 2023 results of a survey of honesty/ethics in the professions last year. The results speak volumes about which professions are trusted by most Americans. The most ethical […]

A Conflict of Interests The PwC-Australia tax scandal was caused by a conflict of interest between PwC’s work advising the Australian government on tax laws and its work advising corporations on how to avoid those laws. This conflict of interest came to a head in 2015, when PwC leaked secret Australian Government tax plans to corporations, including Google,

SEC Comes Down Hard on Marcum LLP On June 21, 2023, the PCAOB sanctioned Marcum LLP for violating PCAOB rules and quality control standards by failing to take sufficient steps to ensure that its system of quality control provided reasonable assurance that: (1) the firm would comply with the requirements regarding the acceptance of issuer

Missing the Red Flags I have previously blogged about the collapse of SVB and the Signature Bank. In today’s blog, I will update the information and probe more deeply the failings of regulators and KPMG to heed the warning signs that trouble lied ahead. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, reminds me of

Where Were the Regulators? The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, and a smaller firm, Silvergate Capital Corp., reminds me of the stream of bank failures since the 1970s that have created concerns about the ability of bank officials and regulators to oversee the liquidity and risk-taking activities of banks and other

Is the SEC the Cause of the Problem? I have blogged before about the problems the Big Four accounting firms are having with respect to conflicts of interest and independence impairments. These concerns have moved the SEC to launch a probe into how firms manage conflicts of interest caused by the provision of nonaudit services

Measurement of Audit Quality is the Key This blog is a continuation of one I posted earlier today and follows up on a blog posted a couple of weeks ago. The question of whether audits provide useful information and protect investors has been discussed for many years. It is an important issue because if audits

Defective Audits Are Not Being Adequately Dealt With The SEC removed William Duhnke as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the U.S. audit watchdog, on June 4, 2021. This raises serious questions about the relevance of the PCAOB today and whether it has been operating as intended. In other words, is it

Indicators of Audit QualityForty percent of the audits inspected by audit firm regulators had at least one finding indicating aserious problem, according to a new survey. A recent report from the International Forum ofIndependent Audit Regulators, a group of national audit regulators including the Public CompanyAccounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in the U.S. and the Financial

Keys to Operating a Successful Cannabis Business State legislation that permits the sale and distribution of marijuana is on the rise. Thirty-three states allow it for recreational and/or medical purposes, including the District of Columbia. Cannabis sales were estimated to be $15 billion in 2018 and projected to be about $73.6 billion by 2027. Given