The House just passed a bill to eliminate the PCAOB, the independent watchdog created after Enron to oversee public company audits. This move doesn’t save taxpayer money (PCAOB is privately funded), but it does risk weakening audit quality, global enforcement, and investor trust.
Whether you’re in Big 4, industry, or advisory—this affects all of us. Oversight matters.
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Let’s make sure our profession doesn’t take a step Deloitte" class="linkified" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" >backward.Deloitte EY PwC KPMG BDO
Chief
If enron hadn't been found out, think how huge it could be today. We don't need regulation getting in the way of growth. This is what they ran on, let them cook
Remind me to take grant thornton audit opinions with a mountain sized grain of salt
You do realize that this is far from a done deal, don't you? Wait until the Senate Parliamentarian rules on whether this is even possible. Also, the PCAOB being folded into the SEC doesn't mean that there will be less regulation or less oversight. Lastly, there was peer review even before the PCAOB existed, and still exists for non-public audits. I think you need to explore the details a bit more before you overreact.
The peer review comment was made to explain that there was always oversight, even before the PCAOB. Agreed that the PCAOB is more rigorous, but it also should be noted that eliminating the PCAOB as a standalone entity and putting them under the SEC (kind of like how Germany does) does not mean that there will no longer be inspections. No one knows whether the number of inspections will change if this happens, or whether PCAOB employees would stay on when they are folded into the SEC. Also, we still need to watch the Parliamentarian assessment of whether eliminating the PCAOB is even legal through this method, given the funding source is not the Federal Government. This is far from a done deal.
No thanks audit nerd. Let it burn.
Pro
You’re making the same point as VP1. OP has an example of financial malfeasance as the reason we need to regulate audit firms.
Audits nowadays are done by India anyway. A country which doesn’t follow US GAAP auditing US GAAP reports. Okay 😂
The PCAOB reviews the work of offshore people and member firms
It would make my life easier
OP - betting you have never been through a PCAOB inspection
Finally! Do you really think the PCAOB adds value to investors? All they do is try their hardest to find issues to fund their budget
D1 mad cause the only reason he has a job is because of the PCAOB 😭😭😭😭
I don't think that part will make it through the Senate
The Senate for sure has more sense than the house, but I wouldn't bet money on it. It's a big and beautiful bill after all. Some say the biggest and the beautifulest!
Pro
So does the PCAOB have to remain in order for audits to continue? I doubt it. Some other administrative dynamic will emerge and in the meantime there are still audit peer reviews are there not? I've been out of PA for quite awhile and not worked for a major public org.
Peer review accomplishes nothing. It’s window dressing.
Pro
How else would USI thrive if regulation is high. Reduce regulation and shift all jobs overseas is the goal in mind
How does that make sense. Why eliminate it if it is private? What was the reasoning by the House? Not necessary any more? Duplication? Enron was a long time ago and nothing like it had happened since.
You do realize that all of the "controls" enacted via Sarbanes-Oxley would not have prevented Enron, right? That doesn't mean we shouldn't have a regulator doing assessments, but the reality is what ended up become law would not have been effective in that situation.
The rationale for rolling the PCAOB into the SEC seems to be more about reducing regulation and exerting control. I would have thought a more thoughtful approach to regulation that would be less onerous but still allow them to exist in their present form would actually make sense, but that doesn't seem to be an option.
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You're assuming big 4 isn't lobbying to get rid of it. So they can outsource your job to India and have enron 2.0 in the future.
Big 4 audits are already a joke. I had some 20something year old girl "cpa" tell me they counted inventory last year, so we don't have to do it this year. The site has over 1.5 million in inventory. If the wrong person knows this, inventory can just magically go up to 3 million and make the company look better.
I joked that "man I even bothered to put weights in the empty boxes out there".
no one got the joke.
The future is doomed.
Cool