Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chief Accountant Kurt Hohl, speaking at a conference, once again sought to set the record straight about what the commission intends to do with auditor independence rules, addressing what he described as inaccurate media reports claiming that the agency will relax these requirements.
Hohl stressed that the SEC’s Office of Chief Accountant (OCA) is examining audit firm independence rules due to emerging issues that could impact auditor objectivity to make sure the rules set in the past are workable in today’s environment. Notably, private equity (PE) firms are increasingly investing in accounting firms, and both companies and audit firms are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
While alternative practice structures can provide capital to invest in new technologies, they can also introduce risks—particularly to auditor independence.
Hohl previously refuted media reports in December 2025 at an AICPA conference, emphasizing that there are no immediate rulemaking plans: “a lot of the newspapers kind of get it wrong, and I continue to hear different things from different people about what we’re trying to do here, what I want to try to get the message across, and it keeps getting received wrong. Maybe it’s my delivery.”
Now almost six months later, Hohl again rejected news articles that claimed that the SEC will weaken the rules after he spoke in New York in early May about OCA’s review of the commission’s independence requirements.
“Auditor independence kind of remains a cornerstone for investor protection. There’s some chatter out there that the SEC is trying to weaken the independent standards. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Hohl said at the 44th annual SEC and Financial Reporting Conference at the University of Southern California on June 4, 2026.
“So, people who know me, who work with me, know that I’m a problem solver, I try to solve problems,” he said.
What OCA Is Doing
He then explained what OCA is doing on independence rules.
First is a refresh of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on auditor independence to better reflect today’s business environment.
“Times change, right? I think the last time that the SEC looked at updating its FAQs or made changes was like maybe six years ago. A lot has changed in six years. So, my approach to dealing with it is not just to look at one little tiny piece and then fix that piece,” he explained. “It’s to kind of do a holistic evaluation of what we need to do as it affects our capital markets.”
Hohl said that companies and their auditors reach out for consultation with OCA staff because the independence rules, as they apply to specific transactions, can be very complex, “and the consequence of reaching a wrong answer on an independence issue is significant not only for a company but also for an audit firm.”
The OCA spends a lot of time on such consultations; thus, Hohl has asked the staff to publicly share responses to common consultation questions raised over the last six years.
Further, Hohl pointed out that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) initially adopted the AICPA’s independence standards on an interim basis when the board was established over two decades ago. The SEC oversees the PCAOB.
“So, we’re going to be working with [PCAOB Chairman] Jim [Logothetis] and his team to take a look at those independence standards and figure out what, if anything, needs to be done with those,” Hohl said.
In addition, Hohl said that the world is becoming more complex, especially with AI and PE investments.
“We’re kind of in listening mode to figure out what we want to do there, understand some of the challenges that are being faced,” he said.
Hohl said that he was at a presentation earlier this week with the chairman and a member of the audit committee of a company who said that they don’t have an auditor choice because of independence restrictions: “Can you please take a look at the independence rules and see how they affect us? Because auditor choice is an investor protection issue.”
He explained that large multinational companies do not have a choice other than the larger audit firms to serve internationally.
“So, we need to be mindful and careful of that. So, the question isn’t really whether independence matters; it clearly does,” he said. “But we want to take a look at whether our independence framework is clear, coherent, and effective in the modern marketplace, so, so it’s not weakening independence, it’s just taking a look and making sure that the rules continue to be fit for purpose.”
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