Overlapping Auditor Enforcement in US Falls Under SEC Microscope

An SEC official wants to tackle a longstanding complaint about the US audit regulator: its competing and what some see as duplicative authority to discipline auditors for shoddy work and ethics failures.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission must work together to address their overlapping enforcement authority over US auditors, Kurt Hohl, chief accountant to the SEC, said Friday during a Practising Law Institute event in Washington.

Firms have taken advantage of the board’s unique process, which by law prevents the PCAOB from announcing enforcement actions until they have been settled, he said.

“That’s ...