Political Quotes

“Madam President, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, PCAOB, Enforcement Transparency Act, which I am reintroducing today with Senator Grassley, will bring needed transparency to the disciplinary proceedings the PCAOB has brought against auditors and audit firms earlier in the process. Nearly two decades ago, in response to a series of massive financial reporting frauds, including those involving Enron and WorldCom, the Senate Banking Committee held multiple hearings, which produced consensus on various underlying causes, including weak corporate governance, a lack of accountability, and inadequate oversight of accountants charged with auditing public companies' financial statements. Later, in a 99-to-0 vote, the Senate passed the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 to address the structural weaknesses revealed by the hearings. Among its many provisions, this law called for the creation of an independent board, the PCAOB, responsible for overseeing auditors of public companies in order to protect investors who rely on independent audit reports on the financial statements of public companies. Today, the PCAOB, under the oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions, SEC, oversees nearly 1,700 registered accounting firms, as well as the audit partners and staff who contribute to a firm's work on each audit.…”