PCAOB Standards: Conducting a Public Company Audit

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to set audit standards for public company audits.  While their standards directly impact auditors of U.S. public companies, their focus and work are often felt through other standard setters, such as the Auditing Standards Board of the AICPA and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

This session provides a comprehensive glimpse into the PCAOB, especially their standards and inspections. Topics include:

• PCAOB members, budget, and duties
• Review of all auditing standards
• Heightened review of new auditing standards:
  • What has changed?
  • Audit Firm challenges 
  • Implications for companies
• Exposure drafts of new auditing standards
• Alerts and PCAOB hot buttons
• Key PCAOB and SEC speeches
• Recent inspection findings 
• Other PCAOB communications geared towards audit firms and audit committees
• Risks and ideas for addressing current auditing standards

This is a popular session for CPA firms engaged with public company attestation work.