Spike Seen in “Going Concern” Filings by Large Firms
The number of large companies filing an accelerated “going concern” opinion by their auditors is spiking upwards, according to Audit Analytics. Interest in this topic has been raised since the auditors for General Motors (NYSE: GM) issued such a going concern opinion on March 9.
Data for calendar year 2008 is not yet fully complete, but since U.S. large accelerated filers (with a market capitalization of over $700 million), have 60 days to file, only data from substantially late filers is lacking.
A review of the large accelerated filers shows a calendar year 2008 spike in the number of going concern opinions.
“The number of going concerns by large accelerated filers peaked at 36 in 2002 and decreased each year thereafter for five years to a low of 5 going concerns in 2007. This trend, however, stopped in 2008 with 18 going concerns filed by large accelerated filers so far in 2008. This number may go up because some foreign filers and late filers have yet to file an auditor opinion.”
The number of going concern filings for all firms currently shows a drop from 2007’s record high level of over 3,000 , but only about two thirds of the expected opinions have been filed so far for 2008, according to Audit Analytics.
A full breakdown of all types of companies and filings is available in Audit Analytics Going Concern Snapshot.
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