Updating the Auditor’s Report: Opportunities and Challenges

“The new audit report is a great opportunity for the profession.” So spoke Marty Baumann, chief auditor and director of professional standards at the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), at a panel during the American Accounting Association (AAA) Auditing Section’s midyear meeting this past January.

I agree wholeheartedly with Marty.

Updating the auditor’s reporting model in the United States represents an extraordinary opportunity, as it has in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Yet as we discussed on that January panel, with opportunities come challenges—and I have put together some strategies for addressing those challenges.

The Standard

To understand the opportunities and challenges associated with updating the auditor’s report, it helps to start with the basic elements of the new PCAOB auditing standard.

The standard features a phased implementation approach. The first phase—which affects PCAOB audits of companies with fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2017—includes disclosing auditor tenure and other changes to the form and content of the auditor’s report.

The second phase of implementation requires communication of critical audit matters (CAMs). The standard defines a CAM as any matter arising from the audit of the financial statements that meets all the following criteria:

• was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee;
• relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements; and
• involved especially challenging, subjective, or complex auditor judgment.

The effective dates for CAMs to be included in the auditor’s report are (1) fiscal years ending on or after June 30, 2019 for audits of large accelerated filers and (2) fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2020 for audits of all other companies to which the requirements apply.

Opportunities

What opportunities will these changes bring? Conversation at the AAA panel covered a range of possibilities.

1. Possible insights for investors. Scott Zimmerman, a partner at EY and its Americas Assurance Innovation division said that each audit should result in “some type of meaningful insight.” Baumann suggested that such insights can “add to the total mix of information that investor use in making decisions,” and offered his view that the audit report could, for some investors, even become “the first place to go in a very big 10-K with a complex set of financial information.”
2. Differentiation via technology. As a digital expert, EY’s Zimmerman knows how technology can be a competitive differentiator for audit firms, particularly as use of data analytics and artificial intelligence grows. He noted that EY, like many firms across the profession, is examining how technology can be leveraged in the context of the CAMs that will be communicated in an expanded auditor’s report.
3. Future academic research. As each audit generates insights, academics can sift through the data to track broader patterns in financial reporting. Baumann noted that researchers might investigate possible correlations between CAMs and stock prices, for example, or financial disclosures.

Challenges

While acknowledging the excitement around these and other opportunities, panelists also recognized challenges.

1. Boilerplate potential. In December 2017, US Securities and Exchange Commision Chair Jay Clayton quipped that it would be a “bummer” if CAMs devolved into boilerplate language of little or no use to investors. At the AAA meeting, panelist Dan Sunderland, chief auditor and national leader for Audit and Assurance Services at Deloitte & Touche LLP, noted that the nature of the disclosure in CAMs would be the “keys to the kingdom”—and that auditors are well aware of the importance of avoiding boilerplate.
2. Interference with audit committee communication. Panelist Phillip Austin, the national managing partner of Auditing at BDO USA, noted that, with the new disclosure of CAMs, some company executives might be tempted to “manage” communication between the auditors and the audit committee.
3. Disclosure tension. In the discussion, panelists contemplated scenarios where auditors may disclose in CAMs information that management is not obliged to disclose. “That’s going to be tricky,” said Austin. Baumann indicated this would be an area that the PCAOB would track carefully.

Strategies for Success

To make the most of the opportunities presented by the new report, panelists discussed strategies to address the challenges of implementing the new reporting models. Audit committee members should become familiar with the following strategies for success.

• Maintain open dialogue between auditors and audit committees. As with many items related to the financial reporting process, strong and ongoing communication will be critical around the new auditor’s report. Baumann cited the importance of dialogue around challenging issues, such as revenue recognition or significant and unusual transactions that a company might have, that could be critical audit matters. To foster this dialogue, the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) has produced a tool for audit committees regarding changes to the auditor’s report.
• Pilot-testing. For auditors, “the critical thing is to try to pilot things in the short run,” said Sunderland. This pilot-testing should involve auditors talking through the process with the audit committee, he added.
• Pay close attention to the post-implementation review. For regulators, it will be vital to monitor implementation of the standard, particularly given risks such as creeping boilerplate. Marty Baumann voiced the PCAOB’s strong commitment to robust post-implementation review, starting with the implementation of CAMs.

What challenges, opportunities, and necessities do you see regarding updating the auditor’s report? I welcome your thoughts in the comments. And be sure to visit the CAQ’s resource page on auditor reporting for more information.

Cindy Fornelli is a securities lawyer and has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Audit Quality since its establishment in 2007.