PCAOB faces uncertain future as SEC Chair solicits new candidates
By 
Adrianne Appel2025-07-25T23:17:00
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins is soliciting candidates for all five seats on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), he announced Wednesday.
The move follows Atkins’ firing of PCAOB chair Erica Williams on Tuesday. Board member George Botic was named as the temporary chair by the SEC until another chair is appointed. The three remaining members of the board are Christina Ho, Kara Stein, and Anthony Thompson.
The nonprofit PCAOB, created by Congress in 2002, has been in the crosshairs of House Republicans, who aim to dismantle the board. The PCAOB oversees audits of public companies and the auditors themselves, including the biggest auditing firms.
Related articles
-
News BriefFormer Deloitte partner dinged by PCAOB for failures in Bancolombia audit
A former Deloitte partner will pay $75,000 and be barred from working as a public company registered accountant for two years by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after violating audit standards during a 2016 audit.
-
PremiumChinese regulators impose six-month ban, $62M fine on PwC’s China unit
Chinese authorities banned PwC’s Chinese unit from performing audits in the country for six months, labeling the subsidiary’s flawed audit work as complicit in the failure of giant property developer Evergrande.
-
News BriefPCAOB Chair Williams appointed to second term
Erica Williams was reappointed to a second term as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after an ambitious first three years in the role that have seen the agency work to update many of its standards deemed outdated.
More from Regulatory Policy
-
News BriefSEC exam priorities for 2026 signal heightened focus on firmwide compliance
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations released its 2026 examination priorities, which give companies a roadmap of areas of heightened risk and regulatory focus for next year.
-
ArticlePharma sector boom puts pressure on compliance to counter financial crime
Regulation is a matter of life and death in the pharmaceutical industry. Rules to combat practices that can kill have been in force for decades, but tech developments are rapidly creating new risks and focusing lawmakers’ attention on areas where some compliance teams may lack experience.
-
News BriefCostco sues federal government over Trump-era tariffs, seeks refund rights
Wholesale retailer Costco would like a tariff refund from the U.S. government, if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by imposing them.