J. Robert Brown, Jr. is a Board Member at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This post is based on his recent public statement.
In late 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) appointed an entirely new Board, giving the five new members the collective opportunity to develop a PCAOB 2.0. In 2018, we issued a Strategic Plan that promised innovative oversight, including with respect to our approach to writing auditing standards. Consistent with our statutory mission, we explicitly committed, in doing so, to consider the expectations of investors.
Last month, the PCAOB published its updated research and standard-setting agendas that will be its focus of attention and resources for the next 12 to 18 months. The agendas do not, however, reflect the promises made in the Strategic Plan.
With respect to investor expectations, the revised agendas mostly disregard them. The agendas removed matters repeatedly identified by investors as important—matters that have only grown in significance in a COVID-19 environment. What remains largely overlaps with the priorities of an international standard setter. While these priorities may be good ones, the goal of global alignment and coordination should not take precedence over the expressed interests of U.S. investors.
