The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) will, for the first time, issue a public consultation document to seek input on its standard-setting agenda. It is expected to be released in June, when the board publishes its strategic goals, which are currently exposed for public comment, new Chairman Demetrios Logothetis said.
“This consultation seeks input on more than just priorities for standard-setting projects. It will seek recommendations to improve the overall standard-setting process, including how to effectively collaborate with and engage international standard-setters,” Logothetis said on May 6, 2026, at the meeting of the Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group in Washington. “Your feedback is important and will help us prioritize our work. I encourage you to please be candid about what you are seeing and what requires our attention.”
This move is likely to be well received by stakeholders, as the board has not previously issued a formal public request for comment on the areas on which it should focus to improve its audit standards or rules in pursuit of the ultimate goal of protecting investors and promoting trust in public company financials.
While it is unclear whether the process will be similar, the Financial Accounting Standards Board periodically casts a wide net to solicit input on what parts of its accounting standards need adjusting, especially as business, regulatory, market, and technological environments evolve.
Before the PCAOB sets its standard-setting and rulemaking agendas, the board, under new leadership led by Logothetis, first issued, at the end of March, a request for comment on what its long-term strategic plans should be. Comments are due May 15, and the board, as Logothetis indicated, hopes to finalize them in June.
“The questions we posed are a starting point, not a boundary,” Logothetis said at the SEIAG meeting. “Your insights as experts in your own right are essential to helping shape the PCAOB’s strategic priorities—and beyond.”
On May 5, the PCAOB updated, for the time being, its standard-setting, research, and rulemaking projects to provide information on what the staff are doing in the interim before the board decides on other projects following public consultation.
For now, it appears that the PCAOB will be making tangible progress on two projects this year.
The first is a supplemental request for comment on its new Quality Control (QC) Standard 1000. This will be issued soon as the standard goes into effect on December 15, 2026. The objective of this project is to consider “targeted changes to QC 1000.”
The second is a rulemaking proposal, also expected this year, on a permanent broker-dealer audit inspection program.
Beyond those two projects, the agenda lists one other item. But it is an old research project that does not have a rigidly set timeline: data and technology.
The goal is to “assess whether there is a need for guidance, changes to PCAOB standards, or other regulatory actions in light of the increased use of technology-based tools by auditors and preparers,” according to the agenda. “This includes evaluating the role technology innovation plays in driving audit quality.”
This could lead to standard-setting projects in the future.
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