Volume 6, Issue 1

January 2012

I. CAQ Audit Research Funding Recipient’s Paper Published

Jacqueline Hammersley, an associate professor at the University of Georgia, has had her CAQ-funded work published in Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, a publication of the American Accounting Association.

Associate Professor

Jacqueline Hammersley

Her paper, “A Review and Model of Auditor Judgments in Fraud-Related Planning Tasks,” appeared in the Journal’s November issue.

In the paper, she described a model of the factors affecting fraud-related audit planning judgments. According to Hammersley, the paper contributed to the fraud planning literature in three ways. First, the model suggested factors that have important implications for auditor performance that are currently under-examined in the fraud literature. Second, she discussed several design choices auditing researchers might consider when conducting audit planning research. Finally, she summarized the findings in the fraud planning literature and suggested directions for future research.

Hammersley’s paper is among 13 projects sponsored by the CAQ since 2009. Several other projects have been completed and articles have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals.

II. Fornelli Addresses AICPA Conference on SEC and PCAOB Developments

CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli was a featured speaker at the AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments in our nation’s capital last month.

Addressing the gathering on December 5, Fornelli summarized the CAQ’s efforts in the last year, highlighting those focused on convening investors and other financial reporting stakeholders to discuss the evolving role of the public company auditor. “We have spent considerable time identifying what information investors need and who they should receive it from,” she explained. “We also have broadened our investor education efforts by enhancing the availability of easy-to-understand and easy-to-access information about the role of the auditor and the financial statement audit, in order to narrow both the expectations gap and the information gap.” Fornelli noted that public company auditors “support responsible and responsive changes to our role and the roles of our colleagues in financial reporting.”

Later in the conference, CAQ Senior Technical Manager for Policy Annette Schumacher moderated a panel discussion on smaller company issues.

III. USA Today “Snapshot” Puts CAQ’s Main Street Investor Survey in Focus

If you read USA Today, you’ve no doubt seen the newspaper’s Snapshots – the statistical graphics on the front page of each section that present information on issues and trends in a visually appealing way.

On December 14, a key finding from the CAQ’s 5th Annual Main Street Investor Survey – tracking individual investors’ confidence in the U.S. capital markets since 2007 – was featured in a Money section Snapshot.

IV. Coming Attractions: “The Financial Statement Audit” Starring the System of Investor Protection

External auditor Ledger Lines and other members of the System of Investor Protection are returning soon in a new video that reprises the film noir setting to concisely explain the financial statement audit.

The CAQ’s first video, describing the United States’ system of investor protection, has been watched more than 3,200 times on YouTube.

Look for “The Financial Statement Audit” at www.CAQForInvestors.org later this month.