The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) issued its 2019 annual inspection reports on Feb. 2 for the seven largest U.S. audit firms, including each of the Big Four, BDO, Grant Thornton, and RSM.
For the third year in a row, the best performance out of the Big Four came from Deloitte, with only 10.3 percent of its inspected audits having significant audit deficiencies. The firm was at 11.5 percent for 2018 after a Big Four-best 20 percent a year prior.
Next behind Deloitte for 2019 was EY at 18.3 percent, followed by KPMG at 29.3 percent. PwC rounded out the pack with its decline to 30 percent.
The reports were in the new format introduced last year, with streamlined content, more tables and charts, and classified deficiencies. Significant audit deficiencies (Part I.A) are those where the PCAOB believes the firm, at the time it issued its audit report, had not obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support its opinion on the issuer’s financial statemen