PCAOB releases audit report on the Big Four.

• Position: PCAOB Update - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board - Brief Article

The PCAOB issued a report on preliminary inspections of the Big Four firms. They found that the Big Four often failed to find or didn't address misapplications of generally accepted accounting principles by audit clients.

Specifically, the firms failed to catch a misapplication by issuers of an Emerging Issues Task Force pronouncement related to the classification of long-term debt that in many cases resulted in restatements...