We are often asked how long company's must keep their internal controls documentation and when we tell them, we are often met with shocked stares but here is your answer:

A recently published survey suggests that many CFOs are unhappy with their Big 4 audit firms but that there's not much the CFOs are doing about it. Read about the survey here. 

Right now, most 12-31 year-end filers are taking a welcome break from worrying about Ks and Qs. But be careful not to put audit-related matters too far on the back burner. Instead, take a few proactive steps to make your financial reporting efforts stronger, more cost-effective, and more efficient for the coming quarters.

 Our friends at BPM sent us this alert today regarding an Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2011-04, Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS and we felt our readers should know about this.  Here is a snippet:

Determining a correct sample size is an important first step in your internal controls testing efforts. Below is Vibato's approach to sample size determination, which we've used with great success for years.This approach has been vetted with all Big 4 and most regional external auditing firms. 

In the bad old days, it took a few phone calls to your auditor and maybe lunch with one of your finance colleagues to get answers to your toughest questions about internal controls, compliance, and risk management.

NASDAQ recently filed a request with the SEC to change the regulations for listing on a major stock exchange for reverse-mergers - citing concerns over fraud, stock manipulation, and the quality of audits.

Two former Boeing staff members learned the hard way that SOX whistleblower rights do not extend when the whistle is blown to the media, rather than to their company supervisors, federal agencies, or Congress.