Accounting Quality

Abstract

Corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, and others have increased the sensitivity of the public toward the ethical misconduct of firms. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is independent of the accounting profession, and they are not considered a government entity. The PCAOB is a non-profit corporation given the mandate to oversee public company auditors. Two members of the five-member board must be Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), to make sure that PCAOB has the required level of expertise. Due to significant changes to audit engagement practices because of new regulatory pressures such Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), studies have been done to determine if it has improved audit quality. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and PCAOB are a few of the regulatory and professional bodies that set independence rules and monitor compliance in the United States. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), established a framework for designing, implementing, and assessing internal controls.