US Audit Board Chair Calls For Auditors to ‘Compete on Quality’

The chair of the US audit regulator on Tuesday brushed aside accounting firm struggles with staffing shortages and remote work, telling auditors to fix the problems that have plagued their corporate reviews for years.

“Audit quality is not where it should be,” Erica Williams, chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, told reporters as she discussed results of the board’s 2022 inspections.

Audit violations, which had declined for a decade, rose for a second year with nearly half of all 710 audits pulled for inspection cited for at least one deficiency, the board said this week. In ...