The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
More SarbOx and PCAOB issues
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The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) states their mission on their website: “To oversee the auditors of public companies in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, fair, and independent audit reports.”
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is comprised of 4 full-time members
appointed and overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The PCAOB oversees and investigates the audits and auditors of public companies,
sets auditing standards and addresses violations of laws and regulations. It
is a private-sector, non-profit corporation. The PCAOB has proposed rules for
periodic reporting by registered accounting firms and instituted a plan to improve
implementation of internal control reporting requirements.
While the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board provides its oversight
of Sarbox compliance, the Office of Internal Oversight and Performance Assurance
(IOPA) was established by PCAOB to examine the programs and operations
of the PCAOB and help ensure the Board’s efficiency, effectiveness and
integrity.
PCAOB has also created a number of auditing standards, all of which must approved
by the SEC to go into effect. The rules created by the PCAOB cover auditing
terms, ethics and compliance with standards. Recently, however, a lawsuit has
been filed on behalf of the Free Enterprise Fund, challenging the authority
of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The lawsuit says PCAOB
has too much unchecked power and violates the separation of powers doctrine
of the Constitution.
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