macpa

A while back, we wrote about a Journal of Accountancy report that seemed to indicate that forensic accountants might be required by law to be licensed as privates investigators. The reason? "Because forensic accountants conduct research- and document-based investigations, they often fall under the purview of these laws," the JofA's Jeff Drew wrote. "In addition, some CPAs specializing in information technology perform work, such as digging for information in computer files, that could require them to...

There are few absolutes in today's business rulebook, but here's one of them: Everything changes -- even 21-year-old internal control frameworks. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission has announced that it will release an update to its landmark Internal Control: Integrated Framework on May 14. The updated framework will "reflect changes in the business and operating environments, formalize more explicitly the principles embedded in the original framework that...

Let's talk ethics for a few minutes. Specifically, let's talk violations of professional standards. Want to know which violations take place most often? You're in luck. The AICPA's Professional Ethics Division has released lists of the most frequent violations it has documented during audit investigations over the past two years. The lists focus primarily on government / not-for-profit investigations and those centering on employee benefit plans. Here's the scoop: Most frequent government / NFP...

Good stuff here from the Journal of Accountancy's Jeff Drew -- too good not to mention, actually. A question for all of you forensic accountants out there: Did you know that, depending on where you work, you might be required by law to be licensed as a private investigator? "While the scope and complexity of (private investigator)-licensing laws and statutes vary nationwide, they all impose licensing requirements on individuals participating in activities associated with private investigations,"...

There's good news and bad news on the auditing front. First, the good stuff: The quality of work performed by smaller auditors -- U.S. firms that perform 100 or fewer public-company audits -- is on the rise. The PCAOB reports that the deficiency rate at such firms fell between 2007 and 2010. "Forty-four percent of the audit firms inspected from 2007 to 2010 had at least one significant audit performance deficiency, according to the PCAOB," the Journal of Accountancy reports. "That’s down from...