PCAOB Data: Fair Value Deficiencies Have Doubled Since 2009

In an analysis of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) data, Atlanta-based valuation and litigation consultancy firm Acuitas, Inc. found that fair value issues dominated the recent landscape of noted deficiencies in audits. The full report titled “Survey of Fair Value Audit Deficiencies,” analyzed three years of PCAOB data regarding audits and inspections.

Mark Zyla, managing director at Acuitas, Inc., said there were two significant trends that emerged from the report. First, “the percentage of audits that have deficiencies has more than doubled since 2009. Secondly, “fair value and impairment audit issues have contributed significantly to this increase in the number of these deficiencies.”

According to Zyla, “The information contained in the survey should benefit public entities and their auditors, and by extension, private entities and their auditors – by helping them understand the underlying causes of fair value measurements and impairment audit deficiencies, as reported by the PCAOB in their latest inspection reports.”