AUDITING - US Chamber of Commerce

Auditing: A Profession at Risk18• Clarify and streamline the accountingstandards process to make it lessexpensive for firms to stay currentof the latest pronouncements. FASBmust address the problem of “infinitecomplication” in accounting rules,which makes it almost impossible foreven the most knowledgeable and wellintentionedaccountants to keep up.Further, the SEC should immediatelyend the process of “Speech GAAP,”whereby accounting policy changesare simply announced by staff withoutprior public examination or discussion.More generally, the SEC must moveaway from the expectation that itspolicies are only of interest to a smallcadre of Big Four accountants andaffirmatively reach out to meet theneeds of smaller firms — and includethem in all debates about new rulesand interpretations.• All parties should actively encouragepublic companies to consider highqualityfirms outside the Big Four— particularly by encouraging WallStreet underwriters and the investingpublic to accept other choices. Thiswould include encouraging companiesto use high-quality second-tier firmsfor (i) outsourced internal auditfunctions, (ii) the provision of tax andother accounting advice, (iii) separateauthentication of control systems, and(iv) other nonaudit work.