House Republicans are pushing a plan to dismantle the US audit board and send its watchdog duties to the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a federal budget-cutting process. It’s not the first GOP attempt to rein in the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, but this time it comes against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s sweeping drive to cut regulations and downsize government.
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Congress set up the board in the early 2000s to restore investor trust following high-profile corporate accounting scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc.
The move to eliminate PCAOB threatens to derail independent oversight of auditors charged with vetting the financial reports of public companies worth trillions in stock value, according to Bloomberg Tax senior reporter Amanda Iacone.
On this episode of Talking Tax, Iacone speaks with Benjamin Freed, Bloomberg Tax team lead for state tax and financial accounting, about why the PCAOB is being targeted now, previous attempts to curb its influence, and what a potential disbanding could mean for audit firms.
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