After forcing PCAOB Chair Erica Williams out, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said he is soliciting candidates for all board member positions, including the chair.
The SEC, which oversees the audit regulatory board, appoints and removes PCAOB members, approves its standards as well as yearly budgets. And Atkins signaled that the board’s budget for 2026, as well as board member salaries, will likely be cut.
“The Commission’s review of the PCAOB’s annual budget is an important element of the Commission’s oversight of the Board, and I expect that an evaluation of Board member compensation will be among the items the Commission considers in connection with its review of the Board’s 2026 budget,” Atkins said in a statement on July 23, 2025.
This was expected as Atkins was a critic of large pay given to board members when he was a commissioner from 2002 to 2008. In 2007 Atkins voted against the PCAOB’s 2008 budget, objecting to a 3.3% increase in board member salaries.
“As a matter of policy, I believe the board’s salaries are disproportionately high,” said Atkins at the time, as he displayed a chart comparing PCAOB salaries with those from executives at not-for-profit organizations and government agencies.
The 2008 budget raised then-chairman Mark Olson’s salary to $654,353 per year from $632,400, and each board member’s pay to $532,000 from $515,000. In 2009, the salary for chair increased to $672,676, and the four other members will be paid $546,891. These figures have remained the same for 16 years.
Daniel Goelzer, a founding PCAOB member, said that Chair Atkins’ statement makes clear that he intends to replace the entire PCAOB board, not just Williams.
“Of course, the same sort of housecleaning occurred in both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, so that isn’t a surprise,” Goelzer said. “More significant is that he is also signaling that new board members should not expect to receive the current $540,00-plus annual salary. Uncertainty about Board member compensation may, of course, affect who decides to apply.”
Today Atkins also echoed concerns that Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda have regarding yearly PCAOB budget increases.
“I note that over the last several years, the PCAOB’s annual budget has increased at a rate significantly faster than that of the Commission,” Atkins said. “This increase took place over a period in which the Board’s mission did not change materially.”
In December 2024 the SEC under the leadership of Gary Gensler voted to approve the PCAOB’s 2025 budget of $399.7 million, an increase of 3.9% over the 2024 budget of $384.7 million.
The vote was 3-2 Peirce and Uyeda dissenting.
As PCAOB member Christina Ho said in her dissent during the board’s meeting in November 2024, Peirce said that the nearly $400 million budget is 40% higher than the $284.7 million budget in 2020.
“At this rate, the budget five years from now will be $560 million,” Peirce said.
She then compared it to the SEC’s budget, which goes through congressional appropriations, and has increased by 21% since 2020. The SEC’s fiscal 2024 and 2025 budget is $2.149 billion. The House Appropriations Committee would reduce it to $2.026 billion for fiscal 2026.
Uyeda said that the PCAOB’s 2025 budget may be increasing only 3.9% from 2024 compared to the double digit increases the past two years. But he said the 2024 budget was not reasonable or supportable and also compared the PCAOB’s budget to the SEC’s budget.
“Assuming that the commission’s appropriation for the fiscal year 2025 will be the same as fiscal year 2024, the board’s budget will be 18.6% of the commission’s appropriations,” Uyeda said. “The PCAOB’s mission is to regulate audits of public companies and SEC registered broker dealers. According to the PCAOB, as of August 2024 there were 659 audit firms that had performed an engagement under PCAOB standards.”
By contrast, he said the SEC has a tripartite mission, overseeing trading in equity and fixed income markets, disclosures of public companies, activities of about 40,000 entities, including more than 3,400 broker dealers, 24 national securities exchanges, 103 alternative trading systems, 10 credit rating agencies, 33 self-regulatory organizations, and six active registered clearing agencies.
“Without discounting the importance of high-quality audits, I question whether the PCAOB resources should represent nearly 19% of the commission’s resources. Over the past four years, the scope of the two agencies missions has not changed materially,” Uyeda said at the time. “However, in fiscal year 2021 the board’s budget was only 15.2% of the commission’s appropriations. Why has the PCAOB’s budget, relative to the commission’s appropriations, increased by over 22% during this period? Now one might argue that perhaps the SEC has been underfunded, but this is Congress’ determination, and the last I checked is Congress was accountable to the voters and the public. Just as Congress expects the commission when it sets our appropriations to exercise fiscal discipline, the commission should also ask the board to do the same as part of its oversight responsibility.”
Selection Process
The SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant administers the selection process. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which created the board, requires members be “appointed from among prominent individuals of integrity and reputation who have a demonstrated commitment to the interests of investors and the public, and an understanding of the responsibilities for and nature of the financial disclosures required of issuers under the securities laws and the obligations of accountants with respect to the preparation and issuance of audit reports with respect to such disclosures.”
Interested individuals who meet the statutory criteria should submit a cover letter, discussing the statutory qualifications and a resume to Boardrecommendations@sec.gov, by August 25.
Each board seat has a five-year term. Any candidate selected by the SEC will serve the remainder of the term associated with that seat. The individual may be reappointed for a second full term. Any board member, including the chairperson, may be appointed to any seat.
The five seats have terms that expire on the following dates:
October 24, 2026. Held by Kara Stein
October 24, 2027. Held by Anthony Thompson
October 24, 2028. Held by George Botic
October 24, 2029. Was held by Erica Williams
October 24, 2030. Held by Christina Ho. The person selected for this seat will be appointed to serve two consecutive terms, with the first expiring on October 24, 2025, and the second expiring in October 2030.
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