Erica Williams is stepping down as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) next week, the board said late in the afternoon on July 15, 2025.
“Today I accepted Erica Williams’ offer to resign as chair and a board member of the PCAOB and thanked her for her service,” Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins said in a statement. “I am grateful she has agreed to stay on until July 22nd. We look forward to advancing our oversight responsibilities of the PCAOB as it continues its important work.”
When asked about who will become acting PCAOB chair, the SEC declined to comment beyond Atkins’ statement.
While Atkins said that he accepted Williams’ resignation, a source close to the matter said that the SEC chief asked Williams to resign first. It appears that Williams had no intention of leaving the PCAOB until compelled to do so. She was appointed PCAOB chair when Gary Gensler was chair of the SEC.
As part of its oversight activities, the commission appoints the five voting PCAOB members. In addition, the board’s budgets and standards must be approved by the commission before taking effect.
Atkins’ move was expected.
It was only a matter of time before he decided to install someone who shares his regulatory philosophy at the PCAOB. Atkins, President Trump’s SEC appointee, is well-known for his deregulatory stance.
Gensler, President Biden’s pick to run the SEC, has pursued an aggressive regulatory agenda. In line with Gensler’s approach, Williams has also pursued an ambitious regulatory agenda with record-setting rulemaking activities and enforcement actions that resulted in the largest penalties.
Just as the SEC is now shifting its focus toward capital formation rather than investor protection rules—which businesses argue are costly without sufficient benefits—the PCAOB under a new chair is also expected to take a lighter regulatory approach across all its activities: standard-setting, inspections, and enforcement.
If Williams’ tenure was marked with voluminous and fast-paced standard-setting activities, the PCAOB in the coming years is expected to slow down or even roll back certain new standards that auditors find burdensome. While it is not yet clear which standards may be reconsidered, firms expressed dissatisfaction with the board’s new quality control standards, for example.
They argue that the PCAOB did not clearly articulate the problems it aims to address. At the same time, they claimed the new requirements will be burdensome and may not even promote audit quality.
The PCAOB’s inspections and enforcement programs are also likely be reshaped. For example, the board will likely pursue enforcement actions only when violations are egregious and hurt investors. The board was criticized for fining firms in certain cases for inadvertent violations of Form AP.
It is likely that Atkins will continue the recent practice of replacing all or most members of the PCAOB. He is expected to appoint new members who will pursue a deregulatory agenda. Except for Christina Ho, who has echoed concerns about the board’s ambitious regulatory activities, other members such as Kara Stein and Anthony Thompson may be on shakier ground. Ho has been popular among auditors and businesses, as she has consistently voiced concerns about what she sees as regulatory overreach at the PCAOB.
In the meantime, Williams thanked the PCAOB’s “dedicated staff.”
“The PCAOB plays an essential role in protecting the investments and retirement savings of workers and families across the country while helping to ensure our capital markets remain the envy of the world,” she said in a statement. “With high economic uncertainty increasing the risk of fraud, the PCAOB’s mission is as important as ever. It’s critical the expert PCAOB staff continue to be empowered to carry out their work of ensuring American investors are protected.”
During her tenure, the PCAOB has updated many of the interim standards adopted from the AICPA when the board was set up following accounting scandals at companies like Enron and WorldCom.
The board has a single mission to protect investors, and many advocates have welcomed Williams’ emphasis on responding to investors’ needs. For example, the board finalized seven projects covering 24 rules and standards.
The PCAOB has also made its firm inspection reports more useful for investors, audit committee members, and others, and has also accelerated the publication of inspection reports. This addressed a common complaint from investors about the long lag time between inspections and the release of reports.
The board also said that firms have improved audit quality as seen with declining audit deficiencies during 2024 inspections.
Take your tax and accounting research to the next level with Checkpoint Edge and CoCounsel. Get instant access to AI-assisted research, expert-approved answers, and cutting-edge tools like Advisory Maps and State Charts. Try it today and transform the way you work! Subscribe now and discover a smarter way to find answers
