Audit Analytics reviewed, for each fiscal year since 2000, the population of auditor opinions filed with the SEC as of May 31, 2011 to determine the number of opinions qualified by an uncertainty regarding the going concern assumption (“going concerns”). The analysis predicts a drop in the total number of going concerns filed for 2010. In addition, for each year, Audit Analytics indentified the companies that filed a new going concern and the number of companies that stopped. By looking at these particular companies one can evaluate how the populations changed due to new companies entering the population and old companies leaving. An unexpected observation is the amount of new going concerns appear to be trending to the lowest number in 11 years. In addition, the number of companies improving their condition, and thus leaving the population by filing a clean audit opinion for the next year, appears to be increasing.
