Center for Audit Quality

Updated on Sep 20, 2024

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Website www.TheCAQ.org		Founded 2007

Key people Cynthia M. Fornelli, Executive Director Headquarters Washington, D.C., United States Type of business Autonomous member-funded non-profit Similar Public Company Accountin, National Association of Corpor, Financial Accounting Standard, Committee of Sponsori, California Society of Certified Profiles YouTube Twitter LinkedIn

About the Center for Audit Quality

About the Center for Audit Quality The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is an autonomous, nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. It is affiliated with the American Institute of CPAs.

The CAQ is "dedicated to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in the global capital markets by fostering high quality performance by public company auditors; convening and collaborating with other stakeholders to advance the discussion of critical issues requiring action and intervention; and, advocating policies and standards that promote public company auditors’ objectivity, effectiveness, and responsiveness to dynamic market conditions."

Founded in 2007, the organization has been led since its inception by Executive Director Cynthia M. Fornelli, a U.S. business leader and former securities lawyer.

Membership and structure

The CAQ is self-supporting and entirely funded by member dues. Membership in the CAQ is open to U.S. accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Associate membership is available for U.S. accounting firms not registered with the PCAOB. The CAQ also offers international firm subscriptions.

Policy Issues

The CAQ engages with regulators and auditing and accounting standards-setters on policy proposals and public company auditing issues. It also provides a forum for its member firms to discuss those issues, share perspectives, and formulate positions. The CAQ works on a wide range of public policy issues, including the following:

The auditor's reporting model

Audit quality indicators

The role of audit committees

Financial reporting fraud deterrence and detection

Accounting estimates and fair value

Financial disclosure

Auditor of the future

Data security and privacy

Sarbanes-Oxley Act implementation and PCAOB rulemaking

IFRS

Mandatory audit firm rotation

Going concern

Audit engagement partner identification

Corporate governance

Company use of non-GAAP accounting measures

Cybersecurity

Audit profession talent pipeline

The CAQ policy page provides more information on the CAQ's policy work.

Research

The CAQ facilitates research initiatives and provides independent funding of scholarly research projects to address new or significant issues relating to public company auditing and the capital markets.

Since 2009, the CAQ through its Research Advisory Board, has annually funded independent academic research projects on auditing-related topics, including audit quality, professional judgment, professional skepticism, and the value of the audit.

In 2013, the CAQ and the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association created a joint program designed to facilitate accounting and auditing academics’ ability to obtain access to audit firm personnel to participate in their research projects.

Other CAQ research efforts include:

Intersecting Roles: Fostering Effective Working Relationships Among External Audit, Internal Audit, and the Audit Committee: Published jointly by the CAQ and The Institute of Internal Auditors, a report capturing key points and takeaways from a series of 2014 roundtable meetings of internal auditors, external auditors, and audit committee chairs. (March 2015)

Audit Committee Transparency Barometer: Published jointly by the Center for Audit Quality and Audit Analytics, the Audit Committee Transparency Barometer presents findings from an extensive analysis of 2015 audit committee disclosures in proxy statements, measuring the robustness of these disclosures among S&P Composite 1500 companies. (November 2015)

The Fraud-Resistant Organization: The Fraud-Resistant Organization: Tools, Traits, and Techniques to Deter and Detect Financial Reporting Fraud provides valuable information about the conditions that might make an organization more susceptible to fraud—and how to mitigate those conditions. (November 2014)

The CAQ's 10th Annual Main Street Investor Survey Conducted each year since 2007, the CAQ's Main Street Investor survey gauges investor confidence in U.S. capital markets, global capital markets, audited financial information, and investing in U.S. publicly traded companies. (September 2016)

Financial Restatement Trends in the United States: 2003-2012: Analysis of the trends in and characteristics of restatements of public company financial statements provides useful information for all stakeholders in the capital markets. (July 2014)

More CAQ’s research can be found on its website.

Governing board

A Governing Board made up of chief executive officers from leading public company auditing firms and the AICPA, as well as three independent members from outside the public company auditing profession leads the CAQ.

Governing Board Chair

Catherine M. Engelbert, CEO, Deloitte LLP

Governing Board Vice Chair

Joseph M. Adams, Managing Partner and CEO, RSM US LLP

Governing Board Members

Wayne Berson, CEO, BDO USA, LLP

Jeffrey Brown, Professor of Business and Dean, College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman and CEO- Elect, KPMG LLP

Michele J. Hooper, President and CEO, The Directors’ Council

Stephen R. Howe, Jr., U.S. Chairman and Americas Managing Partner, EY LLP

J. Michael (Mike) McGuire, CEO, Grant Thornton LLP

Barry Melancon, President and CEO, American Institute of CPAs

James L. Powers, CEO, Crowe Horwath LLP

Timothy F. Ryan, Chairman and Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Mary Schapiro, Vice Chairman Advisory Board, Promontory Financial Group

References

Center for Audit Quality Wikipedia

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