"The Board continues to be concerned by the nature and consistently high number of deficiencies across the firms and the audits covered by the inspections. Many of these

deficiencies continue to be similar in nature to those described in previous reports and relate to the fundamentals of auditing that are not necessarily dependent on whether the audit was performed under generally accepted auditing standards ("GAAS

") or PCAOB standards," said the PCAOB report. "Many of the inspected firms need to significantly improve their audit work to meet the requirements of the professional standards and SEC and PCAOB rules. The Board is also concerned by the nature and number of deficiencies in the attestation engagements across the firms inspected."