Critical Audit Matters

On July 27, 2022, SEC Chair Gary Gensler gave remarks at the Center for Audit Quality entitled “Sarbanes-Oxley at 20: The Work Ahead.”

Chair Gensler highlighted, among other things, impacts on auditing standards, accounting standards, and auditor independence.  He noted that at the time of enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, the new Public Company Accounting

As we have previously blogged, public companies are now required to describe critical audit matters (CAMs) in their publicly filed auditor reports.  CAMs inform investors and other financial statement users of matters arising from the audit that required especially challenging, subjective, or complex auditor judgment, and how the auditor responded to those matters.  As such,

In a recent publication, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) Staff shares some initial observations regarding Critical Audit Matters (“CAMs”) implementation.

The Staff commented on the significant investment of resources devoted to identification of the CAMs, drafting of the CAMs descriptions, which began months prior to the fiscal year end, the involvement of the

At the recent 2019 AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments, representatives of the SEC provided updates on a number of emerging issues, including implementation of the critical audit matters (“CAMs”) requirement.  A representative of the Office of Chief Accountant noted that CAMs are intended to “provide audit-specific insights not previously communicated regarding matters