The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on March 31, 2026, voted unanimously to seek public comment on its 2026-2030 strategic plan.
The request for comment document focuses on seven broad questions:
- What should the PCAOB focus on as its strategic priorities in registration, inspections, and enforcement over the next two to five years to further its statutory mission?
- What changes should the PCAOB make to its inspections program including, but not limited to, changes in light of its new quality control standard (QC 1000)?
- What inspection information would be most useful to stakeholders, and how could inspection reporting be enhanced under a quality control-focused inspection program?
- What standard-setting projects should the PCAOB pursue?
- How can the PCAOB achieve greater alignment of its auditing standards with international auditing standards?
- In what ways should the PCAOB consider deploying technology, including AI, to help further its investor-protection mission?
- How can the PCAOB enhance transparency with its stakeholders?
Comments are due by May 15.
“The feedback received will help inform the development of the PCAOB’s 2026-2030 strategic plan and guide the PCAOB’s focus areas for future standard-setting activities,” the PCAOB said. “The public will have further opportunities to provide input on a draft 2026-2030 strategic plan and refreshed standard-setting focus areas later this year.”
This was the first public appearance for the new members: Chairman Demetrios Logothetis, a retired Ernst & Young LLP partner; Mark Calabria, a former official at the Office of Management and Budget; and Steven Laughton, former counsel to former PCAOB member Christina Ho.
Kyle Hauptman, former chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, who was appointed at the same time as the other three members, has not yet been sworn in.
Board member George Botic, who was named to the role when Gary Gensler headed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was retained for continuity.
The four new members were appointed by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins at the end of January. The commission oversees the PCAOB.
What to Expect
In line with the SEC’s expectations, the PCAOB is expected to take a sharp turn from the regulatory approach embraced by the previous PCAOB chair, Erica Williams who was appointed by former SEC Chairman Gensler.
While the request for comment only lists questions, it signals efforts to align more closely with standards issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).
This also aligns with the recommendations provided by SEC Chief Accountant Kurt Hohl.
Large accounting firms, especially the Big Four, audit public companies worldwide and follow international standards when it involves foreign companies. Complying with different standards adds to compliance burdens.
The potential shift is likely to alarm some domestic investor protection advocates who believe some international standards are not as strong as the ones developed previously by the PCAOB.
‘Back to Basics’
At his first open meeting, Logothetis echoed Akins’ call for “back to basics” regulation for the SEC as well as the PCAOB.
“As we look ahead, I believe we must get back to the basics – back to the fundamentals of audit quality, investor protection, and disciplined, responsible oversight,” the PCAOB chief said.
He said that there are short-term actions that the PCAOB could take as it awaits public feedback on its long-term plan. And he borrowed from Chairman Atkins a framework comprised of three pillars to guide the board’s work: Advance, Clarify, and Transform or A-C-T.
Logothetis said that the PCAOB will refresh its standard-setting initiatives. The standard-setting agenda has not changed for over a year as the administration changed in January 2025.
“It is important that our agenda evolves with the audit and financial reporting ecosystem, and this solicitation process will help ensure that our efforts reflect the realities of today’s investors and the U.S. capital markets,” he said.
“We will use the input from stakeholders in response to the request for comment to refresh our standard setting plan,” he added. “We will then solicit, for the first time in the PCAOB’s history, public comment on our refreshed standard-setting focus areas before they are finalized through an agenda consultation.”
This also aligns with what Hohl said. The FASB regularly carries out agenda consultations, and he said the PCAOB could do something similar.
QC 1000 Supplemental Request for Comment Coming
Logothetis also gave a nod to audit firms who strongly objected to certain aspects of the PCAOB’s new quality control standard. Despite opposition, the previous PCAOB and SEC leaders pushed the standard through.
In particular, firms that audit more than 100 issuers are required to establish an external quality control function (EQCF) for the audit practice that includes at least one independent person who will evaluate the significant judgments made and the related conclusions reached by the firm when evaluating and reporting on the effectiveness of the QC system.
But auditors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly objected to the EQCF, arguing that this is not a logical outgrowth of the PCAOB’s 2022 proposal, among other problems. They believe the PCAOB should have proposed that requirement for feedback before finalizing it.
“While I look forward to input from stakeholders on what projects should be prioritized by our Office of the Chief Auditor (OCA), I have also directed staff to develop for the board’s consideration a supplemental request for comment to seek public input on certain provisions of QC 1000,” Logothetis said. “As some stakeholders have observed and articulated in comment letters throughout the standard setting process, certain requirements included in QC 1000 may be unnecessary for the standard to meet the regulatory objectives of the PCAOB and may not contribute to audit quality.”
He was quick to add that investor protection and audit quality will remain the North Star and will continue to guide the board “even as we consider whether narrow revisions to the standard and related amendments are warranted to ensure that implementation is both effective and practicable.”
More Near Term Changes Planned
He said that the board will also evaluate its inspections process, just as Hohl had recommended.
“As inspections are one of the principal tools for the PCAOB to implement its oversight mandate, we must pivot to better leverage automation and artificial intelligence (AI) and focus them on the bedrock of audit quality—firms’ systems of quality management—with engagement-level reviews serving as validation of those systems, as opposed to being the core emphasis,” Logothetis said. “I expect that making this shift will have multiple benefits. Among them, the resulting inspection reports should be clearer and provide more meaningful information and therefore should be more user-friendly for stakeholders. The timing of these innovations, moreover, will dovetail nicely with QC 1000—it will allow firms to implement the new QC standard in parallel with adapting to a new inspection focus.”
In another first for the PCAOB—as Hohl had suggested—Logothetis said that the board is designing a formal consultation process within OCA to provide guidance on complex or novel auditing issues.
“This will help ensure that the interpretation of standards rests with the standard-setting functions—not with inspections or enforcement,” he said.
Just as the SEC’s Office of Chief Accountant runs a professional accounting fellow program, the PCAOB has also started the Audit Practitioner Fellowship Program.
In addition, he said that the PCAOB will leverage technology, including AI, to enhance its operations.
“Technology is reshaping the audit profession, and it must reshape audit oversight as well,” he said. “The PCAOB must be forward-leaning, technologically adept, and prepared for the next generation of audit risks.”
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