Читать книгу Reading Financial Reports For Dummies - Lita Epstein - Страница 61

For more than 100 years, public accounting firms were self-regulated. Sarbanes-Oxley changed that, and now the PCAOB regulates these firms by:

 Requiring that public auditing companies register with the PCAOB

 Establishing auditing and ethics standards

 Conducting audit quality inspections to assess firms’ compliance with standards and SEC and PCAOB rules, and to identify audit quality issues

 Investigating allegations of wrongdoing

 Disciplining auditors of public companies and broker-dealers

The SEC has full oversight of the activities of the PCAOB. The SEC appoints members of the PCAOB in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chair of the Federal Reserve. Two seats are occupied by individuals certified as public accountants. In addition, the SEC has the opportunity to review rules and standards set by the board It can approve or disapprove of the standards set, but cannot amend them. The SEC also approves the budget of the board. The SEC also has the authority to review and modify final disciplinary sanctions imposed by the board.