PCAOB Calls for Bigger Budget to Increase Staff

Amid some uncertainty about its own future, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board approved a five-year strategic plan and an increased budget for 2010 calling for more staff to beef up audit inspections and enforcement.

The PCAOB anticipates a budget of $183.3 million for 2010, a 16-percent increase over the 2009 budget to cover additional staffing in inspections, enforcement, the Chief Auditor’s office, and the Office of Research & Analysis. The board expects overall headcount to reach 636 by the end of 2010 compared with the 576 expected to be on staff at the end of 2009. The budget must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the PCAOB. The PCAOB said it will make the budget available publicly after it is approved by the SEC.

“Following a year when investors incurred tremendous losses due to the financial crisis on Wall Street and in the housing markets, investors are looking to regulators, including the PCAOB, for reassurance about the quality of financial reporting in the marketplace and to see that their interests are safeguarded,” said PCAOB member Steve Harris in a prepared statement.

Acting Chairman Dan Goelzer noted the board is dealing with an increasing number of litigated enforcement proceedings, although those proceedings remain private until appeals are exhausted. “The board notes in its strategic plan that the privacy provisions “provide an incentive for respondents to litigate disciplinary actions, which in turn could result in an inefficient use of PCAOB resources and delay important information about disciplinary sanctions.”

The board also notes international inspections are proving more time consuming and complex than anticipated at the PCAOB’s inception. Despite efforts to work with regulatory counterparts in other countries, the board still hits obstacles in completing some required inspections. “If the PCAOB remains unable to inspect certain registered firms, the PCAOB may require additional resources to address firms’ failure to cooperating,” either through disciplinary actions or additional disclosure requirements, the board said.

As the board approves its five-year plan and its 2010 budget, one of the five board seats is vacant and two seats are held by board members whose terms have already expired. The SEC is mulling a replacement for former Chairman Mark Olson, who left in July, and for Charles Niemeier, who has remained after his term expired in October 2008 and has said he wants to leave soon. Bill Gradison also is remaining on the board although his term expired in August 2009.

SEC spokesman John Nester said the selection process is under way, no decisions have been made, and no time line has been established for naming permanent board members.

The PCOAB’s operations remain under challenge as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in the case of a Nevada audit firm that believes the regulator’s existence and the manner by which board members are selected is unconstitutional. Nester said the case of the Free Enterprise Fund vs. the PCAOB is not a factor in the current selection process.

The board also notes a number of other legislative and regulatory proposals that could alter its operations, including possible revocation of the Sarbanes-Oxley internal control audit requirement for smaller public companies and new requirements to regulate the activities of broker-dealers.