PCAOB Pays Off Treasury Start-up Loan

Washington (Sept. 24, 2003) -- In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board chairman William McDonough said the board has repaid the $20.3 million in received from the Treasury as start-up funding.

Going forward the board will now receive its funding from fees assessed on public companies.

McDonough also revealed that the PCOAB has received roughly 500 registration applications from firms and has already approved 38.

He reiterated the board’s intention to look for “tone at the top” within accounting firms and the nature of communications coming from the highest levels.”

“We want to know what kinds of work the firm rewards through its compensation system. And we want to know how a firm decides to retain or fire a client,” McDonough said.

The chairman said that final rules on how the board will investigate and discipline accountants would probably be adopted next week.

-- WebCPA staff

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