SEC Sets Aside $100 Million in Budget to Take on Audit Oversight

The SEC faces a possible $300 million shortfall in funding should Congress expand the Wall Street regulator’s role to oversee the work of auditors, according to the agency’s budget request.

The Wall Street regulator’s spending plan allots about $100 million in initial funding toward auditor oversight, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

A House budget measure would dismantle the Enron-era Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, handing its auditor watchdog role to the SEC. The commission hasn’t yet determined how many people it would need to hire to handle the board’s work, ...