The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board posted three initial resources related to the implementation of QC 1000, A Firm’s System of Quality Control.

The resources include a practice aid, comparison document and webinar. QC 1000 would require all PCAOB-registered firms to identify their specific risks and design a quality control system that includes policies and procedures to safeguard against those risks.

The practice aid provides an overview of features unique to QC 1000, such as incremental requirements that the standard imposes on firms that issued audit reports for more than 100 issuers in the prior calendar year. 

The comparison document maps the text QC 1000 against the requirements of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s International Standard on Quality Management 1, Quality Management for Firms that Perform Audits or Reviews of Financial Statements, or Other Assurance or Related Services Engagements, as well as against the American Institute of CPAs’ Statement on Quality Management Standards No. 1, A Firm’s System of Quality Management.

The webinar provides an overview of the standard’s requirements and aims to help auditors prepare for the standard’s implementation.

Andersen, the global professional services firm founded by a group of former Arthur Andersen partners, has created the Andersen Institute for Finance and Economics, with influential economists joining its advisory board.

The institute plans to focus on trends affecting the world economy, financial markets and business decisions. It will be under the leadership of Fabio Natalucci, a former official at the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department. He will lead the Andersen Institute’s goal of exploring the interconnections between global macro themes such as technological innovation and AI, climate change and decarbonization, geopolitical fragmentation, rising levels of public debt, and demographics. 

“The Andersen Institute’s mission is to shape discussions on the most pressing global economic issues facing businesses and governments today,” Natalucci said in a statement Wednesday. “By delivering insights on key global trends, the Andersen Institute aims to foster intellectual leadership, influence public discourse, and provide strategic direction to support clients in navigating a complex global economy.” 

Andersen global chairman and CEO Mark Vorsatz will chair the institute’s advisory board, which will include Nobel Laureate Myron Scholes; former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers; real estate economist Ken Rosen of the Berkeley Haas Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics; Rebecca Diamond of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business; Raghu Rajan of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Lubos Pastor of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and independent director of the Vanguard Group; and George Shaheen, a retired global managing partner of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and technology executive. 

“There is a greater need for independent financial and economic information particularly at the C-Suite level,” Vorsatz said. “The Andersen Institute’s independent economists and experts can lead in changing the dynamics of how professional service firms approach business and create access to the C-suite.” 

Vorsatz and a group of 22 other former Andersen partners founded WTAS (short for Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA Inc.) in 2002. As CEO, Vorsatz later renamed the firm Andersen Tax in 2014 after acquiring the trademarks and copyrights from Arthur Andersen LLP and Andersen Worldwide (see WTAS revives Arthur Andersen name as Andersen Tax). He then built it into a global network known as Andersen.

The institute will conduct research on topics such as how global financial markets price risks and opportunities amid heightened technological and policy uncertainty; and how businesses, governments and financial institutions navigate these trends. The Andersen Institute plans to host client events in major U.S. cities in the first half of 2025 and build visibility through partnerships, collaborations, media appearances and its digital presence.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service granted a filing exception Wednesday for tax-exempt organizations, saying they don’t have to file Form 4626, Alternative Minimum Tax – Corporations, for tax year 2023.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 created an alternative 15% minimum tax for corporations on the adjusted financial statement income of corporations, but it was aimed at the largest ones with an average annual AFSI over $1 billion, starting in 2023. However, it was feared that the new rules could ensnare some smaller companies as well, at least as far as tracking their income. The IRS and the Treasury proposed guidance last month on the CAMT. For tax-exempt organizations, the corporate AMT applies only to the AFSI of any unrelated trades or businesses.  

The Treasury and the IRS said Wednesday that tax-exempt organizations should maintain Form 4626 in their books and records for purposes of documenting whether they are an applicable corporation for purposes of the AMT and, if it does, for determining any corporate AMT liability. In addition, any tax-exempt organization that’s liable for the AMT needs to pay the tax and report the amount on Part II, Line 5 of Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return.

Al Drago/Bloomberg

In Notice 2023-7 and in the proposed regulations issued on Sept. 13, 2024, the Treasury and the IRS offered a simplified method for determining whether a corporation is an applicable corporation, but this method didn’t take into account the specific AFSI adjustment provided by the statute for tax-exempt organizations. Comments on the proposed regulations are due Dec. 12, 2024.

To give taxpayers and the IRS enough time to consider the comments they’ve been receiving on the proposed regulations, including comments relating to reporting for tax-exempt entities and on the application of the simplified method for tax-exempt entities, tax-exempt organizations have been exempted from the obligation to file Form 4626 for tax year 2023.