Law and regulation

Audit | ISA (UK) 540 (Revised): scalability and audit of accounting estimates

The revised international auditing standard, ISA (UK) 540 (Revised) Auditing Accounting Estimates and Related Disclosures, attempts to improve scalability issues and treatment of accounting estimates as more complex forward analysis becomes available for financial reporters. Michelle Roberts CA, specialist audit writer at Croner-i Tax and Accounting, considers the judgment issues for auditors

26 Feb 2019

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | Deloitte Japan fined $2m over independence failings

Deloitte’s firm in Japan is to pay $2m (£1.56m) to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it issued audit reports for a client at a time when dozens of its employees maintained bank accounts with the client’s subsidiary, in violation of the regulator’s audit independence rules

14 Feb 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | The future of auditing: a cluttered horizon

Katharine Bagshaw FCA examines the future of auditing in light of a raft of UK investigations into quality, purpose and independence, the Monitoring Group's proposals to overhaul the international audit standard setters, and attempts to modernise auditing standards in an age of cross-border, digital multinational businesses, not to mention the audit needs of smaller entities

11 Feb 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | £21m damages bill for Grant Thornton’s ‘flagrant’ audit failures

Grant Thornton has been ordered to pay an audit firm record of £21m in damages to former client AssetCo after a High Court judge branded its auditing of the company, which nearly collapsed as a result of an accounting scandal, to be a ‘flagrant breach of professional standards’, exhibiting failures ‘of the utmost gravity’

1 Feb 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | Audit updates: February 2019

In this month’s roundup of audit news, MPs probe Big Four and mid-tier firm heads about sustainability of audit, FRC consults on tougher stewardship code and changes to third country auditor fees due to Brexit, Carillion audit investigation to continue well into 2019, audit wins at SSE and ICG, while Aston Martin puts audit out to tender

1 Feb 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | PCAOB faults half of KPMG US audits inspected

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) identified deficiencies in half of the audits it inspected at KPMG’s US firm in 2017, with concerns that there might not have sufficient audit evidence to support the firm’s opinion in some instances

29 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | FRC Carillion probe to continue ‘well into 2019’

The Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) investigation into Carillion is set to continue for much of this year but will be completed ‘promptly and thoroughly’, the regulator has said in an update on its examination of KPMG’s auditing and the conduct of two former finance directors of the failed outsourcer

22 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | KPMG suspends Carillion audit partner

KPMG has suspended Peter Meehan, the audit partner for failed outsourcing company Carillion, and three other members of staff after discovering issues with documentation provided to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) audit quality review (AQR) of the company in 2017

21 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | BEIS committee warned over audit reform proposals

Both academics and business experts raised concerns of ‘unintended consequences’ of audit reforms to the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee, with broad disagreement over whether the changes should be led by government or business, reports James Bunney

15 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | Calls for full scrutiny of EU banking audits

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) wants EU legislators to intervene and ensure the European Central Bank (ECB) allows full access to documents for audits related to banking supervision, arguing that the current position prevents them from carrying out their work properly

14 Jan 2019

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | FRC consults on third country auditors' fees to prepare for Brexit

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a four-week consultation on the fee structure for third country auditors (TCA) in the event of a no-deal Brexit, although it has indicated that the current fee structure is unlikely to change

10 Jan 2019

Law and regulation

Audit | Audit updates: January 2019

In this month’s round-up of audit news, the Competition and Markets Authority releases its initial findings into the lack of competition in the listed audit market with the Big Four under fire, while the Kingman review questions to competency of the audit regulator, while Patisserie Valerie drops Grant Thornton in auditor switch to RSM

7 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | SEC fines Crowe’s US firm $1.5m over audit failures

US firm Crowe has agreed to pay a penalty of $1.5m (£1.18m), after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) identified significant failures in audits of Corporate Resource Services, which went bankrupt in 2015 after the discovery of $100m in unpaid federal payroll tax liabilities

7 Jan 2019

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | Charity Commission to take hard line over material reporting

Two auditors have been reported to their professional body in the wake of the Charity Commission’s follow-up report on auditors’ compliance with the requirements for reporting matters of material significance, with the regulator warning it may take similar action without prior warning in future

20 Dec 2018

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | Donald Brydon to head Project Flora audit review

Donald Brydon, outgoing chair of the London Stock Exchange Group and chair of Sage Group has been appointed to lead a new independent review of the quality and effectiveness of the UK audit market, in the wake of the Kingman review and the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) interim findings, following a nine-month search for an independent chair

18 Dec 2018

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Audit | FRC future uncertain as Wates principles launched

Launching the Wates corporate governance code for large private companies, James Wates praised the work done but admitted that the future involvement of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was overshadowed by the impending publication of the Kingman review into the regulator

13 Dec 2018

Corporate governance

Corporate reporting

Law and regulation

Technical Alerts

Direct Tax | Government publishes UK National Reform Programme 2020

Direct Tax | ICAEW publishes Finance Bill representations

Direct Tax | SI 2020/317 – The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2020

Direct Tax | Finance Bill 2020 legislation and explanatory notes published

Direct Tax | Budget 2020 – Tax agent blog

Direct Tax | Budget 2020: overview of tax legislation and rates (OOTLAR)

Direct Tax | Deferral of CT payments on EU group asset transfers

Direct Tax | Windrush Compensation Scheme payments relief from Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax

Direct Tax | Impact definitions for Budget 2020 tax information and impact notes

Direct Tax | HMRC launch consultation on duty-free and tax-free goods carried by passengers

Direct Tax | HMRC publish Notes on Finance Bill 2020 resolutions

Direct Tax | Transfer of unlisted securities to connected companies for Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax

Direct Tax | CT treatment of intangible fixed assets from 1 July 2020

Direct Tax | 2020–21 APD rates confirmed

Direct Tax | Tax treatment of certain Scottish social security benefits

Direct Tax | Changes to top slicing relief on life insurance policy gains

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