The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has again rejiggered its
In May, under the leadership of the PCAOB's new chair, Erica Williams, and three other new board members, the PCAOB announced one of its most ambitious agenda ever, overhauling standards it inherited decades ago from the American Institute of CPAs when it was founded after passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (
The PCAOB is now expanding its standard-setting and research agendas with three new projects. Two new projects have been added to the short-term standard-setting agenda, on interim standards for AS 1000 (in which the PCAOB will consider changes to auditing standards in the AS 1000 series and in AS 2815, the meaning of "present fairly in conformity with GAAP") and amendments related to certain aspects of designing and performing audit procedures that involve technology-assisted data analysis. The amendments related to certain aspects of the designing and performing technology-assisted data analysis project stemmed from a successfully completed research project on audit evidence, which has now been removed.
The PCAOB also added one project to its research agenda, on firm and engagement performance metrics.
Meanwhile, the anticipated timing for the PCAOB's confirmations project has been moved up to 2022 from 2023, with the PCAOB expecting to issue a re-proposal before the end of the year.
For two other projects — on noncompliance with laws and regulations and an attestation standards update — the anticipated timing is now 2023. PCAOB action on those projects is still expected in the next 12 months.
