The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is tuning in more closely to what investors are looking for in public company audits by forming a 19-member Investor Advisory Group. The panel selected by the board reads like a “who’s who” list of investor advocates who are quite accustomed to making their views known to the corporate and regulatory communities.

The investor group will be different from the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group, said a PCAOB spokesman. The SAG is focused on many of the technical issues involved in standard-setting activities while the IAG will ask the investor representatives to discuss some of the auditing issues that concern them.

PCAOB member Steven Harris will chair the investor group. Harris was staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Banking Committee when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was adopted, and he is credited for having a hand in shaping the legislation and establishing the PCAOB. Acting PCAOB Chairman Daniel Goelzer said in a statement the board is looking forward to having direct input from investors on a regular basis.

Members of the Investor Advisory Group include leaders at TIAA-CREF, Consumer Federation of America, AFL-CIO, California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), the Council of Institutional Investors, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, among others.