AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Regulation, Geopolitical Instability Spark Concern

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bar charts

Audit partners seeing modest optimism across companies.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Auditors have a special sense of what’s happening in American business. They see the numbers that others don’t. They prepare their firms and clients for what’s to come.

This year, audit partners are sensing a guarded confidence in the economy, albeit with considerable nervousness about the geopolitical situation, according to the Center for Audit Quality’s 2024 Audit Partner Pulse Survey.

MORE: Ten Ways to Manage Price Increases | Survey Says 57% of Firms Are Raising Prices Next Year | Twelve Years and Out: Seasoned Accountants Join the Exodus | Survey Shows Big Opportunities in Small Business | The Slow, Painful Death of the 150-Hour Rule | Partners: Your Middle Managers Are Getting Squeezed | In-Person Conferences Still Essential | Accounting ARC
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Geopolitical Instability

For the first time, geopolitical instability ranks in the top five economic risks facing companies over the next 12 months.

In fact, it ranks third, a fear substantially more serious than that of cybersecurity and rising interest rates.
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Give Your Audit Teams Tasks That Increase Business Acumen

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Business-mindedness helps you identify risks.

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

I’ve previously described a task I have teams perform at the end of an audit. After everyone shares their insights about what they learned about that client and their operations, I ask everyone to complete this phrase:

“If I were running this business, I would ______________.”

 

MORE: Are You Using the Right Business Model? | Give Advice While Remaining Independent | The New Formula for an Accounting Business | Don’t Risk Losing Good Employees for Bad Clients | Four Questions to Make Your Firm More Successful as a Business | Say Adios to Audit Fee Pressure | Deliver More Audit Value by Getting Out of the Conference Room | Six Essential Elements in Audit Planning | Before the Audit: More Than Just Planning | Five Crucial Attributes for Successful Audit Leadership | Put the Ethics Code to Work for Your Clients and Your Firm | Is Audit in Crisis Because of Definitions?
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Here are a few of the ideas I’ve heard audit teams come up with in that exercise:

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Thomson Reuters Brings Al to Audit Solutions

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Auditors can experience increased efficiency, enhanced accuracy and improved transparency.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Thomson Reuters, a global content and technology company focused on the public accounting profession, launched Thomson Reuters Audit Intelligence recently. This suite of AI-powered, data-driven audit solutions is designed to transform audit practices by reducing errors and enhancing confidence while enabling auditors to realize efficiency gains.

MORE: Technology This Week with Rick Richardson

The first tool in the suite, Audit Intelligence Analyze, employs AI and machine learning to enhance audit quality and efficiency simultaneously. The solution focuses on high-risk areas by efficiently segmenting audit testing populations based on risk level and reducing the number of items to be tested. With advanced anomaly detection, Analyze integrates directly within existing workflows, identifying unusual items often overlooked by humans and automatically generating all necessary audit documentation.
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Are You Using the Right Business Model?

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Own your expertise and price it accordingly – yes, even in audits. 

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

Those firms that value the chargeable hour above all risk losing their best team members. The ones who want to think, innovate and come up with creative ideas that add value to the client and the firm will leave.

MORE: Give Advice While Remaining Independent |  Stop Mixing Up Your V’s and Losing Your Best People | How to Upgrade C and D Clients | Can a Service Center Model Solve Audit Staffing Shortages? | Move to Advisory and Assurance with Relevance | Use Eight Audit Exit Items to Deepen Client Relationships | Know Your Three Audit W’s | Planning Lays the Foundation of Audit Relevance | Are You Correctly Identifying the Relevance Intersection?
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When audits are billed out on a flat-fee basis, is an hourly rate still relevant? Tracking time isn’t a revenue system if it does not impact what the client pays you. The billable hour is nothing more than a cost accounting system. Production is what the client pays for, so measuring that, plus instituting measures for accountability, more closely mirrors what brings money in the door.

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Jeff Joireman: How CSR Drives Consumer Behavior | Know-How Korner

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Beyond its ethical implications, CSR can bring tangible financial gains, including increased sales and market share.  

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Know-How Korner
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Corporate social responsibility has become more than just a buzzword; it’s a critical component of modern business strategy.

MORE: Donny Shimamoto

In the latest episode of Know-How Korner, Donny Shimamoto hosts Jeff Joireman, a distinguished professor of marketing at Washington State University, who shares his extensive research on CSR and its profound impact on consumer behavior.  READ MORE →