Audit Inspection Violations Rose Amid Pandemic-era Challenges

The US audit board has found more audit deficiencies as it reviewed work capturing pandemic-era corporate accounting and a boom in blank check companies.

Inspectors with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board noted deficiencies in about one-third of audits reviewed in 2021, up slightly from 29% the year before. The board inspected 141 audit firms and looked at aspects of 690 audits, according to an overview of inspection findings released Thursday.

Those routine inspections looked at audits of 2020 financial statements—capturing the height of the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic shocks and a rise in the number of ...