FierceFinanceFierceFinanceITFierceSarbox   FierceCIO

Sarbox rule to pressure small audit firms?

The Sarbanes-Oxley rotation rule was designed to make sure overly cozy ties do not develop between auditors and clients. It requires that accounting firms change the lead audit partner for a client every five years. Big firms can deal with it because of their many in-house options. But it can really pressure smaller audit firms. In the fifth year of Sarbox, this is starting to be an issue. One firm, Cordovano and Honeck, has said it has given up a client, Signature Leisure, because of the rule. It previously had given up another client. The two-person firm had no other auditor it could turn to. Could it hire? I guess so, but it would be an added cost and the firm apparently decided it was not worth it. If you are using a small audit firm, this is an issue worth exploring now. Changing auditors is no small feat. The last thing you want to do is to start from scratch.     

For more:
- here's an article from cfo.com

More stories about audit firm   Regulatory news   accounting firms   audit firms  

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

More information about formatting options

What is 19 + 40?
To combat spam, please solve the math question above.