Despite increased workloads and longer hours, accountants are as accurate as ever.
According to a recent analysis by Audit Analytics, only 630 U.S. companies reported accounting problems serious enough to result in a restatement last year — 674 accounting problems to be exact.
That’s a 24% drop from the number of companies reporting accounting problems in 2008.
More importantly, the number of restatements reported is the lowest its been since 2001 — the year that the Enron scandal opened the floodgates to questions about the corporate accounting process.
The Audit Analytics analysis also found that:
- The number of businesses with restatements and the number of restatements have decreased every year for the past three years
- Errors on restatements were covered within 476 days, a 7% drop from when the errors were covered in 2008, and
- Restatements cut companies’ earnings by $4.6 million on average last year, a huge from $7.2 million in 2008 and $23.5 million in 2006.
What does your firm do to prevent accounting mistakes? Share your tactics with us in the Comments section.
