Devoted
to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in the global capital
markets, the Center for Audit Quality
(CAQ) is an autonomous, nonpartisan, and nonprofit public policy
organization based in Washington, DC. Supported by a membership of U.S.
accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(PCAOB), the CAQ is led by a Governing Board made up of CEOs from leading
public company auditing firms and the AICPA, as well as three members from
outside the public company auditing profession. CAQ resources include guides,
case studies, technical alerts, research reports, comment letters, amicus briefs,
and videos. They are all publicly available and free of charge.
On
August 7, 2016, top practitioners from the public company auditing profession
gathered with leading academics at the CAQ’s Eighth Annual Symposium in New
York, Research in Auditing – Insights from
Academics and Practitioners. The event is a key part of the CAQ’s ongoing
dialogue with the academic community on how research can help inform audit
practice. As in past years, the 2016 Symposium included panel discussions on
critical issues.
This
Symposium panel focused on the advantages that can be gained when academics
team up with members of the profession to inform their research. Behavioral and
archival researchers working with the CAQ Research Advisory Board have
benefited from conferring with auditors to better understand the challenges
faced in practice, how those are addressed, and how changes in approach or
audit methodology could impact the research question.
The
Center for Audit Quality has also developed two video vignettes for use in the
classroom (each approximately five minutes in length) that provide insights
into the types of conversations that occur when auditors are assessing the
internal controls used by management. In these scenarios, the focus is on a
management review control over goodwill impairment estimates. The discussions
captured in the videos can also be used in other teaching situations as they
highlight communications and interviewing techniques, professional skepticism, and how to navigate conversations on difficult
and sensitive issues. To learn more, refer to video Vignette 1: A Meeting between the Audit Manager and the
Company Controller and video Vignette 2: A Meeting between the Audit Manager and the
Engagement Partner.
