PCAOB initiative targets bolstered stakeholder engagement

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) said the recent approval of the formation of a new advisory group would expand the organization’s stakeholder engagement.

© PCAOB

Additionally, the panel would provide new opportunities for investors and other stakeholders to advise the Board. The vote to approve the charter of the Standards Advisory Group (SAG) creates an 18-person expert body.

“Building on our concerted effort to improve our outreach over the last several years, we are now taking the PCAOB’s engagement to a higher level by creating a new, more effective structure for the Board to receive advice from our stakeholders on key PCAOB initiatives,” PCAOB Chairman William D. Duhnke III said. “The formation of the Standards Advisory Group extends the dialogue we’ve advanced with investors and others since 2018 and gives stakeholders additional and tangible opportunities to assist the Board in accomplishing its mission.”

Per the PCAOB charter, investor community representatives would hold the most SAG seats with five, followed by four seats held by audit professionals and three seats each for audit committee members or directors, financial reporting oversight personnel, academics, and others with specialized knowledge. Each SAG member would serve a two-year term.

Officials indicated the SAG would advise the PCAOB on existing auditing and related attestation standards, quality control standards, ethics standards, and independence standards; proposed standards; potential new or amended standards; and
requested matters other than standards of significance to the Board.