Bloomberg BNA has published a new book examining the history and workings of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
The book, “The PCAOB Mission: Improving Audit Quality via Enforcement, Standards & Inspections,” also includes a supplement listing all PCAOB enforcement actions that have been made public over the past decade.
“The objective of the book was to take stock of the PCAOB and its oversight of the auditing of public companies after more than 10 years of operation,” said lead author Eugene Goldman, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of McDermott Will & Emery, and former SEC prosecutor. “I had noticed that there really was no single resource available to attorneys, auditors and others who have issues with the PCAOB, who need to know how it works and what it has done. So we developed this book with Bloomberg BNA, and it has six chapters focusing on inspections, enforcement, registration, reporting, auditing standards and jurisdiction. In particular, I found there was a vacuum in easy to follow literature regarding the PCAOB inspections and enforcement programs. As part of the book, we prepared a special supplement which basically summarizes every enforcement action that has been made public since the PCAOB commenced operations.”
The supplement describes only settled enforcement actions, not the disciplinary proceedings that the PCAOB is required under the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley to keep confidential until they have been settled, which can sometimes drag on for years. The PCAOB has been asking Congress to amend Sarbanes-Oxley to allow such proceedings to be made public, but while bills have been introduced to that effect, they have not been passed.
Goldman is a senior member of McDermott Will & Emery’s White-Collar and Securities Defense practice group, where he represents clients such as financial officers and auditing firms in securities enforcement investigations and proceedings.
Goldman believes the PCAOB has matured into an effective federal regulator and, along with other Sarbanes-Oxley reforms, has helped decrease the types of financial scandals that the country lived through before Sarbanes-Oxley was passed in 2002.
“I think they deserve a place at the table of top-tier regulators,” he said. “Their board members and staff are experienced. They have sufficient funds to carry out its mission. They have robust inspections and enforcement programs. But they are still striving to find the right balance of measures to improve audit quality.”
For more information on the book, visit
