Your Ask Joey ™ Answer

What type of non-audit advisory services can an audit firm provide?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 mandates that audit committees be directly responsible for the oversight of the engagement of the company’s independent auditor, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) rules are designed to ensure that auditors are independent of their audit clients. 

To determine whether an auditor is independent under this standard an audit committee needs to consider all of the relationships between the auditor and the company, the company’s management and directors, not just those relationships related to reports filed with the Commission. The audit committee should consider whether a relationship with or service provided by an auditor:

There are certain non-audit services that are always prohibited. The SEC and the AICPA do not list out any non-audit services that are automatically approved. Instead, it lists out some examples of non-audit services that can be approved by the audit committee. Below is a list of services that must be pre-approved vs those non-audit advisory services that are prohibited:

Learn more @ https://www.sec.gov/info/accountants/audit042707.htm


Back To All Questions

You might also be interested in...

  • CECL Excel Workbook

    If you would like to use the Excel workbook that was used to create the Universal CPA lecture on CECL for debt securities, please click the link below to download the Excel workbook: CECL Calculation workbook (Universal CPA Review)

  • Journal Entry for Direct Materials Variance

    Journal Entry for Direct Materials Variance In the current year, Mission Burrito budgeted 6,000 pounds of production and actually used 4,000 pounds. Material cost was budgeted for $5 per pound and the actual cost was $8 per pound. What would the debit or credit to the direct material efficiency variance account be for the current...

  • Understanding Variance Analysis

    Variance Analysis Variance analysis is a method for companies to compare its actual performance vs its budgeted amount for that cost measurement (related to the flexible budget). The differences between the standard (budgeted) amount of cost and the actual amount that the organization incurs is referred to as a variance. By analyzing variances, the company...