The PCAOB staff prepares documents called Staff Inspection Briefs. The purpose of the briefs is to help auditors, audit committees, investors, and preparers to understand the PCAOB inspection process and its results. Each year, one of the briefs provides information about that year’s inspections of registered audit firms and their audits of issuers. For example, for 2017, there is a brief entitled, “Staff Inspection Brief, Vol. 2017/3: Information about 2017 Inspections (August 2017).” Go to the PCAOB website (www.pcaobus.org). In the top menu, hover over Inspections and click on Staff Inspection Briefs to go to the Staff Inspection Briefs page. For the most current year presented, select the brief that provides information about that year’s inspections.

Required

Read the brief and answer the following questions.

a. How many firms was the PCAOB planning to inspect during the year? Does the brief provide any descriptive characteristics of the firms being selected?

b. What were the key areas of inspection focus for the year? For those related to substantive procedures, documentation, or auditing accounting estimates, briefly summarize the PCAOB’s findings.