Intense and nearly unbroken travel on three continents will impede staying current on all the mischief within the capabilities of the inter-locking participants in the structure by which assurance is provided on the financial statements of the world’s large companies: issuers, the large accounting networks themselves, users in the capital and investment markets, agencies of law enforcement and politicians and regulators.
Developments in this troubled world are likely to be consequential but cannot be predicted with any level of confidence – so there will be catching up late in the spring.
Three items in the last week head the list of topics to be monitored, however:
- The PCAOB announced consideration of a proposal for the reorganization of its auditing standards – something on absolutely nobody’s list of priorities -- while the agency has failed to get off the snide on either auditor rotation or the content of the auditor’s report – reinforcing the unavoidable conclusion that this body has lapsed into terminal inconsequence.
- The vote of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee to scrap a proposed requirement for mandatory auditor rotation, in favor of a less binding “directive” on periodic re-tendering, has potential to inflict a dose of reason and reality on a topic long threatening to float away on clouds of fantasy.
- And the news from the UK -- that the move by Schroders to replace long-time auditor PwC with KPMG has foundered on the inability of the putative successor to satisfy the independence requirements -- provides early validation that even aspirations limited to periodic re-tendering are subject to the realities of a market for audit services too constrained to function under legislated mandates.
All of these challenges reinforce the over-arching need for fundamental re-engineering of the reporting and audit functions in their entirety. But this process is unlikely to advance in any significant way during my brief absence.
Instead, there is every reason to be confident that these problems will all be here and awaiting attention when I return.
Thanks for joining this dialog. Please share with friends and colleagues. Comments are always welcome, and subscription sign-up is easy and free, both at the Main page.
Comments