Dr. Rezaee Commissioned by American Accounting Association

For release:  November 12, 2015

Dr. Rezaee, Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellences in School of Accountancy, was commissioned by the American Accounting Association (AAA) to chair a committee of seven auditing professors from numerous universities including University of Memphis, University of Kentucky, Tulane University, and others. The committee provided comments on the Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regarding Rulemaking Docket Matter No. 041; PCAOB Release No. 2015-004, PCAOB CONCEPT RELEASE ON AUDIT QUALITY INDICATORS (AQIs).

In response to concerns that regarded the value-relevance of public company audits, the PCAOB recently developed a portfolio of 28 AQIs that identified indicators that can signal the quality of an audit. The AQIs played an important role in improving public trust and investor confidence in audited public financial information. AQIs were classified into three categories: audit professionals, audit process, and audit results. Each was intended to improve audit quality and effectiveness, as well as the mechanism to communicate audit quality to audit committees, investors, audit firms, and regulators, including the PCAOB. The AQIs Concept Release was expected to improve the quality of financial statements and the committee made numerous comments and suggestions for further refinements and eventual issuance of auditing standards on AQIs. The committee supported the PCAOB's initiatives in the development and public release of AQIs and suggested that the PCAOB work with major auditing firms in the future construction of AQI measurements.

Dr. Rezaee was invited and attended the Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets on October 22-23, 2015, which was organized by the PCAOB's Center for Economic Analysis in conjunction with the Journal of Accounting Research. Dr. Rezaee participated in the discussion of the role of auditors in our capital markets and further discussed the AQIs Comment Report with the PCAOB board members and other personnel during the conference

Click here to read the 25 page report of the committee; subsequently accepted for publication in the Current Issues in Auditing and well-received by the PCAOB's board and staff. To read all comments on Docket Matter No. 041; PCAOB Release No. 2015-004, click here.