Internal Audit Insights

Ever since Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002—a response to major accounting scandals at such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Tyco, and others—internal auditors have been wringing their hands over their role in assuring compliance with the complex law.

Here are eight primary steps internal audit teams can apply to assist management and stakeholders throughout the organization to continuously improve accounting, financial reporting, audit, and governance initiatives.

The balanced scorecard is a system used to make sure business operations are aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy. Since it uses several measures to determine success, it helps those involved to balance what is achieved with how it is achieved. Here's how.

As SOX turns 15 this fall, let’s widen the lens to capture what SOX is really about: its history, its goals, and the most important points to remember for an effective SOX compliance experience.

Organizations that are subject to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance use various reports from the source systems to perform the controls defined by management.

The battle over the use of non-GAAP measures in financial reporting has been simmering for well over a year, but now it may be starting to cool off.

A new report finds no drop in the number of companies using non-GAAP figures, but some minor adjustments in how they use them.

Financial Executives are straining to keep up as the increasing volume and pace of data clouds their ability to provide meaningful insights to boards quickly and accurately.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a new proposal that it says would make "targeted improvements" to the accounting guidance for hedging activities.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update that is intended to enhance disclosure requirements on business income taxes.

Just 10 percent of companies are prepared to adopt the new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) lease accounting standards, according to a recent report by audit firm Deloitte. And it's not that many companies are just procrastinating.

The fury over the increasing use of non-GAAP accounting measures when companies report earnings is building, and now the Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing in with some guidance on practices that are and aren’t acceptable. 

There is a growing backlash against the use of measures that don't meet Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when reporting earnings results, and its quickly becoming a frenzy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a plan by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to require audit firms to disclose the names of audit engagement partners and to provide more information about other firms that participate in audits.

Earlier this month the Securities and Exchange Commission took the next step in its year’s-long campaign to reform the vast dump of information we collectively call financial disclosure.

While Valeant Pharmaceuticals continues to battle allegations of bookkeeping misdeeds, it's not the only company dealing with accounting problems.

During the past several years that I have covered corporate compliance, auditing, accounting, and other functions that intersect with government regulation the executives and company representatives I've talked to have always chosen their words very carefully.

Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a $258 million budget for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The PCAOB acts as a check on accounting firms that conduct audits of public companies.

This week the Securities and Exchange Commission settled a case with Mass.-based technology company PTC Inc. and its Chinese subsidiaries that could create new imperatives for internal audit practices and assurance of anti-bribery programs.

Think financial executives are most worried about cyber-security risks or the mounting new regulations they must navigate? Think again.

A group of global investors is hoping that convincing companies to adopt good governance standards—and avoid making decisions that provide a quick pop but don’t support long-term goals—can be a lucrative proposition.