PCAOB Publishes Guidance for Small Public Cos. On Internal Control Audits
Jan. 23, 2009
FEI Summary

On Jan. 23, 2009 the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board published Staff Views – An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That Is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements: Guidance for Auditors of Smaller Public Companies. According to PCAOB’s press release:

"Auditing Standard No. 5 [AS5], An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That Is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements, provides direction to auditors on scaling the audit based on the company’s size and complexity. The guidance explains how auditors can apply the principles in Auditing Standard No. 5 to audits of smaller, less complex public companies.

The staff guidance [published on Jan. 23, 2009] reflects consideration of comments received on the preliminary views guidance that was issued in October 2007. The revisions – discussed in Appendix B of the guidance – represent clarifications only; they do not change the fundamental principles in the preliminary views issued."

Prepared by Edith Orenstein, Director, Technical Policy Analysis, Financial Executives International (FEI). This summary does not represent FEI opinion unless specifically noted above.