En una sociedad cotizada, el adecuado desempeño por los auditores de cuentas de su función legal de verificación es uno de los aspectos fundamentales para la calidad de la información financiera que debe llegar a los accionistas e inversores. Es por ello que las autoridades supervisoras suelen implicarse de manera diversa pero siempre relevante en la disciplina de la auditoría. A modo de ejemplo, The Washington Post ofrecía el sábado pasado una breve e interesante crónica que ilustraba la influencia que la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) juega en el órgano supervisor en materia de auditoría, el Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), del que he tratado en alguna ocasión anterior entrada.
Sucede que a la SEC compete el nombramiento de un consejero en el PCAOB, para lo que baraja dos nombres cuya biografía y criterios revisa el diario al destacar la relevancia de la decisión:
“The Securities and Exchange Commission and its chairman are coming down to the wire on a decision that could help determine what investors can expect from Corporate America’s accounting watchdogs.
The SEC is close to naming a new member of the five-person board that Congress created a decade ago to police and regulate the audit firms that are responsible for vetting the financial reports that companies give investors, people familiar with the process said”.
Más allá de los nombres, lo importante es resaltar las expectativas que siguen acompañando la actividad de ese organismo, creado precisamente a partir de los que quedaron como grandes fiascos de la auditoría: Enron et al. Cito de nuevo la información:
“The appointment comes when the PCAOB under activist chairman James R. Doty is considering steps to transform corporate audits. Those include forcing companies to switch audit firms from time to time so that the accounting gets a fresher look and requiring auditors to write more informative assessments. Doty has faulted the auditors’ performance in the runup to the financial crisis.
The initiatives have generally divided investor and industry groups.
The SEC exercises broad authority over the the PCAOB — known as the “Peekaboo” — and the appointment could tip SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro’s hand on the policy and politics of auditing.
Audit firms, which are hired and paid by the companies they audit, are supposed to serve as an important line of defense for investors. They are responsible for vetting the financial reports that companies issue.
But many frauds and financial calamities have unfolded with no public warning from the watchdogs.
Congress created the PCAOB a decade ago after accounting scandals at companies such as Enron and WorldCom shook investors’ faith in corporate balance sheets and profit statements. The oversight board replaced a system in which the accounting industry — including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) — was largely responsible for writing its own rules and policing itself and was criticized for avoiding accountability”.
Solo el tiempo confirmará si estas medidas devuelven a la verificación contable una plena confianza en el mercado estadounidense.
Madrid, 7 de febrero de 2012
