The Center for Audit Quality

Volume 2, Issue 3

March 2008

I. CAQ’s Public Dialogue Tour Travels to Boston

On April 8, the CAQ hosted its Public Dialogue Tour event in Boston, where approximately 70 Boston-area investors, members of state and federal government, academics and corporate representatives convened to discuss how to improve the quality, transparency and relevance of financial information.

Led by a distinguished panel of experts, including Dr. Jean C. Bedard, CPA and Timothy B. Harbert Professor of Accounting in the Department of Accountancy at Bentley College; John Mahoney, CFO and Vice Chairman of Staples, Inc.; James L. Kroeker, Deputy Chief Accountant for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and Robert Pozen, Chairman of MFS Investment Management® and SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting, the group discussed several pressing issues facing the capital markets today, including the reliability and transparency of financial statements, corporate governance, and the impact of regulatory requirements put in place by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).

A summary of the Boston event, video clips of panelists’ comments and information about previous Dialogue Tour events are all available on the CAQ website.

The tenth—and final—Public Dialogue Tour event will be in Washington, DC, on July 22. The information gathered from all of these events will be incorporated into a report the CAQ will release later this year.

II. Center for Audit Quality Comments on Treasury Regulatory Blueprint

The CAQ has acknowledged the effort of the U.S. Treasury Department to develop a comprehensive blueprint for an improved financial regulatory structure. In a March 31 statement, Executive Director Cindy Fornelli said, "Secretary [Henry] Paulson and his staff have drafted a thoughtful plan intended to eliminate duplication, increase coordination, and improve oversight within the regulation of our markets for benefit of investors."

The plan would consolidate financial regulation into three agencies and give new powers to the Federal Reserve to investigate all aspects of the financial markets if there was a threat to market stability.

According to Fornelli, "The CAQ shares Treasury’s goal of designing reforms that may better prepare all market participants to meet the challenges ahead, and we look forward to working with policy makers as they consider the blueprint’s specific recommendations, particularly as they pertain to the audit profession’s work to enhance both the quality of reported financial information and the audit process.”

Treasury officials emphasized that the blueprint was not intended to address existing economic ills. "With few exceptions, the recommendations in this Blueprint should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past," Paulson explained.

III. CAQ Launches Member Spotlight

The CAQ launched its Member Spotlight on April 1 by featuring BKD, LLP, which describes itself as one of the largest CPA firms in the U.S.

Each month a new member firm will be spotlighted on the CAQ website and in the CAQ Newsletter on the right-hand sidebar with a brief description of the firm's services and a link to its website.

IV. Treasury’s Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession Continues Work

On April 1, the Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession (ACAP) voted to begin drafting its final report on the sustainability of a strong and vibrant auditing profession, following a public telephonic meeting in which revised preliminary recommendations were discussed.

The meeting was a follow-up to a March 13 Treasury meeting where three ACAP subcommittees - Human Capital, Firm Structure and Finances, and Competition and Concentration - made presentations of their initial recommendations and invited feedback from the full committee. Solicitation of public comment on the first draft of the final report is expected in late May.

To read the CAQ’s summary of the April 1 meeting, click here.

For more information on the focus and efforts of the Advisory Committee, visit the CAQ’s Treasury webpage.

In This Issue...

I. CAQ’s Public Dialogue Tour Travels to Boston

II.Center for Audit Quality Comments on Treasury Regulatory Blueprint

III. CAQ Launches Member Spotlight

IV. Treasury’s Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession Continues Work

CAQ Video Library

Listen to opinions from our distinguished national Public Dialogue Tour panelists. Videos and photos from events hosted by the CAQ are available on our Website.

BKD, LLP

BKD, LLP, one of the largest CPA firms in the U.S., applies technical expertise, industry specialization and unmatched client service to meet the business and financial needs of our clients, which include public and privately-held companies and high net-worth individuals.

Website: http://www.bkd.com/

What is Audit Quality?

"To me, audit quality is much more about creating influence to get the financial statements right."
--John Mahoney, CFO and Vice Chairman of Staples, Inc. Quoted from the Boston Public Dialogue Tour event.

Do you agree? Email us your definition of audit quality, with "Audit Quality" in the Subject line, and you may see it in future newsletters.