By Prof Dr Michel De Wolf, DGST Réviseurs d’entreprises
With the consent of the Public Interest Oversight Board, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), at the end of 2019, approved a revised International Standard on Auditing: “Identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement”. Remarkably, only 15 of its 18 present members carried an affirmative vote in favour of the new standard 1 (see footnote below).
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By Dr Thomas Ditges, DITGES Rechtsanwälte Wirtschaftsprüfer Steuerberater
The case is unprecedented. A DAX company is insolvent! The market capitalisation was higher than that of Deutsche Bank AG, but the company’s rise was also faster, and the claims of the board of managing directors were more flamboyant. There was no lack of alarms. Since the middle of 2019, the journalists of the Financial Times have remained undaunted. They did not let themselves be dissuaded from their complaints about discrepancies. Banks refused to provide financing.
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By Carole Hong Tran and Dominique Le Roi, FIDAG SARL
In France, since the introduction of the new law on audit thresholds adopted in May 2019, a number of SMEs are now exempt from statutory audit. A new audit mission has therefore been designed especially for those still wishing to have their annual accounts certified by an auditor, known as Audit Légal des Petites Entreprises (“ALPE”), which offers the following advantages:
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By Tom Parry, Navolio & Tallman LLP
The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) has issued a Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 138, Amendments to the Description of the Concept of Materiality. The ASB’s description of the concept of materiality has been consistent with the definition used by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). Following the decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in August 2018 to return to its original definition of materiality, which was in effect from 1980 until 2010, this amendment aligns the definition with the description of materiality used by the US judicial system, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FASB.
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By Douglas Nix, Stillwater Capital Corporation
In today’s M&A environment, an EBITDA multiple is by far the most common methodology used to discuss and assess the value of a privately owned business. It is used because of its simplicity and ease of calculation.
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By Aaron Caskey and Jon Connor, Dressman Benzinger LaVelle psc
LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) is an interest rate index setting forth the rate at which major financial institutions will lend to each other. The rate is calculated as an average of the estimates from various leading banks. But LIBOR is not just for investors on Wall Street.
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By Andrea van der Giezen, JAN© Auditors & Tax Advisers B.V.
The International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR; the international alliance of independent supervisors for the auditing branch) published a report about audit quality last May.
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By Boris Michels, Andrew Jones and Prof Dr Michel De Wolf, GGI ARC Practice Group
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) seeks to further understand the challenges of using ISAs in audits of less complex entities – and views about possible actions to address these challenges. It recognises the global call for action to address issues of complexity, length, understandability, scalability, and proportionality related to using the International Standards on Auditing. Continuing the debate on these strategic issues, the IAASB published a Discussion Paper in order to get views of various stakeholders on how to support auditors working in this increasingly evolving environment.
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By Prof Dr Michel De Wolf, DGST Réviseurs d’entreprises
As you may know, IOSCO and its worldwide “monitoring group” overseeing the world audit and ethical standard setting process, are focusing on audit standards for public-interest entities, with no interest for “SMEs”. This is, of course, of special concern for all non-Big-Four audit practices. Meanwhile, IAASB is launching a project around the question of the scalability of ISAs, which could lead to an “ISA for SME”.
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By Jeffrey A. Ford, Grossman Yanak & Ford LLP
Much confusion exists regarding the capitalisation of software implementation costs, whether developed for internal use, purchased, licensed or incurred in a cloud computing arrangement. Examples of software for internal use include ERP, CRM and many other systems. This article does not apply to software for resale or for use in R&D.
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