Audit Board Urged to Rein In Plan to Curb Misleading Marketing

CPAs pressed the US audit board to scale back a proposal meant to prevent firms from falsely marketing their registration with the regulator as an endorsement of their work.

The bar for possible enforcement actions is set too low under draft rules the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released in February, exposing firms to greater legal liability, auditors and accounting groups told the regulator in feedback submitted through April 15. The rules should instead focus on clear cases where a firm promotes registration with PCAOB as a seal of approval, some comment letters said.

“The rule should not apply to ...