September 17, 2007
SEC Gets Serious with Unregistered Audit Firms
How could so many firms audit public companies without registering? The regulations are clear. It makes one wonder who the companies were that they audited. If the firms did not know enough or care enough to register properly with the SEC, what audit standard did they use to audit their clients.
Somehow I do not think this is a place to cut costs for a public company.
For the complete article, click here. An excerpt is here:
"Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2007 - LAWFUEL - The Law Newswire - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged 69 auditors with issuing audit reports on the financial statements of public companies while they were not registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The SEC administrative orders name 37 unregistered audit firms and 32 audit partners who participated in the preparation and issuance of their unregistered firms’ audit reports.
These firms and partners did not comply with a fundamental requirement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 — that accounting firms that prepare and issue audit reports on the financial statements of public companies must be registered with the PCAOB. The SEC issued 29 settled and ten contested orders. The 69 firms and partners named in today’s actions were collectively responsible for issuing 60 audit reports for 53 companies between November 2003 and October 2005.
Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said, “The Commission is committed to ensuring compliance with the regulatory framework Congress established for auditors of public companies. When these auditors failed to register with the PCAOB, they violated one of the key requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and evaded the PCAOB’s oversight authority. The actions we take today protect investors and will deter future violations of Sarbanes-Oxley’s registration provision.”
If your company has to comply with SOX 404 or NI 52-109, and wants to do it in a sensible and cost effective way, contact http://www.issuescentral.com/ for more information on Compliance Playbook® for companies based outside of Canada. For Canadian based companies, see http://www.compliancepartner.ca/ for more information on Compliance Partner™ from Thomson Carswell.
Somehow I do not think this is a place to cut costs for a public company.
For the complete article, click here. An excerpt is here:
"Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2007 - LAWFUEL - The Law Newswire - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged 69 auditors with issuing audit reports on the financial statements of public companies while they were not registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The SEC administrative orders name 37 unregistered audit firms and 32 audit partners who participated in the preparation and issuance of their unregistered firms’ audit reports.
These firms and partners did not comply with a fundamental requirement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 — that accounting firms that prepare and issue audit reports on the financial statements of public companies must be registered with the PCAOB. The SEC issued 29 settled and ten contested orders. The 69 firms and partners named in today’s actions were collectively responsible for issuing 60 audit reports for 53 companies between November 2003 and October 2005.
Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said, “The Commission is committed to ensuring compliance with the regulatory framework Congress established for auditors of public companies. When these auditors failed to register with the PCAOB, they violated one of the key requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and evaded the PCAOB’s oversight authority. The actions we take today protect investors and will deter future violations of Sarbanes-Oxley’s registration provision.”
If your company has to comply with SOX 404 or NI 52-109, and wants to do it in a sensible and cost effective way, contact http://www.issuescentral.com/ for more information on Compliance Playbook® for companies based outside of Canada. For Canadian based companies, see http://www.compliancepartner.ca/ for more information on Compliance Partner™ from Thomson Carswell.
