The House Financial Services Committee unanimously recommended a bill to Congress that would prohibit the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from establishing a system of mandatory rotation for audit firms.
In a 52-0 vote, the committee passed the “Audit Integrity and Job Protection Act” to amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which established the PCAOB’s authority to regulate the audit profession in 2002. The amendment would say the PCAOB “shall have no authority” under Sarbanes-Oxley to require public companies to use specific auditors or to choose different auditors on a rotating basis. The committee first introduced the measure last March as the PCAOB issued a concept release looking for input on the idea and held a series of public roundtable discussions.
