SEC swears in new PCAOB chair, board members

The new chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Demetrios (Jim) Logothetis, was sworn in at the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with two new board members, Mark Calabria and Steven Laughton, only a little over a week after they were appointed.

SEC chairman Paul Atkins named them as the new PCAOB chair and board members at the end of January after a monthslong search. Atkins had announced the search for a new board member last July after asking the previous PCAOB chair, Erica Williams, to resign. Another board member, Christina Ho, later announced her intention to resign by the end of January. The SEC also approved a slimmer budget and lower salaries for the PCAOB, reducing the chair's salary by 52% and the other board members by 42% while also trimming the accounting support fee paid by public companies and broker-dealers by 18.4%.

Logothetis retired from Ernst & Young in 2019 after 40 years with the Big Four firm and has since chaired the audit committee of the Republic Bank of Chicago and served on the advisory council of CrossCountry Consulting. 

"I am deeply honored to have been appointed to lead the PCAOB, and I am grateful to SEC Chairman Atkins and to Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda for their faith in me to serve in this important role," Logothetis said in a statement. "Independent oversight of auditors is a critical pillar of the investor confidence that powers the U.S. capital markets, and I look forward to partnering with the SEC, my fellow board members, and the PCAOB's dedicated staff to fulfill our organization's statutory responsibilities efficiently and effectively."

Calabria has worked in the Trump administration as associate director and chief statistician with the White House Office of Management and Budget and a senior advisor to the Office of the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was all but shut down by the administration and its work vastly scaled back last year. 

"As is true across the business landscape, change is accelerating in auditing, and the PCAOB continues to have an important role to play to protect investors and drive improvement in audit quality," Calabria said in a statement. "I am grateful for this opportunity to be a part of the PCAOB's next chapter."

Laughton spent over 30 years with the Treasury Department. His roles there included senior counsel to the general counsel, where he helped establish the troubled Paycheck Protection Program, and assistant general counsel, where he supervised over 50 attorneys and staff and advised on various matters such as housing finance reform, financial markets, Dodd-Frank, banking law, fiscal matters, securities law, disclosure, privacy and advisory committees.

"I'm honored to join the board and look forward to working with my colleagues to protect investors and strengthen America's capital markets," Laughton said in a statement.

After Williams' departure, board member George Botic served as acting chair of the PCAOB.

"I would like to express my gratitude to board member Botic for his service as acting chairman," Logothetis said in a statement. "He carried out his responsibilities with dedication and professionalism, which has allowed for a seamless transition."

The SEC also appointed Kyle Hauptman to the board and announced that Botic will continue his service as a board member. His current term will expire on Oct. 24, 2028. Logothetis' current term is slated to end on Oct. 24, 2030, while Calabria's term is scheduled to last until Oct. 24, 2027, and Laughton's until Oct. 24, 2026.

As with the previous set of board members, the end dates can be changed by the next presidential administration. In both the previous Trump administration as well as the Biden administration, there was a nearly complete overhaul of the composition of the PCAOB board. The new board is expected to take a more deregulatory approach under the current administration, focusing its inspections more on auditing firms' overall system of quality management rather than specific deficiencies in their audits and engagements.