The US audit regulator has withdrawn a pair of disclosure rules widely opposed by the accounting industry to ensure any final proposals would garner the support from a starkly different SEC under the Trump administration.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said late Tuesday that it had pulled the projects after discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which must approve any PCAOB rules before they could take effect. Both remain on the board’s rule-writing agenda.
“The PCAOB looks forward to continuing to work with the Commission and all stakeholders to protect investors and increase transparency,” the board said in a statement.
The backtracking is part of the latest fallout from the presidential transition. Republican SEC members, who now control the Wall Street regulator, opposed past board rules and its budget.
Auditors had urged the commission to send the projects back to the PCAOB for further study and review. They argued the audit board didn’t demonstrate that investors and audit committees needed the additional auditor reporting.
Approved by the board in November, the two proposals would have required the largest audit firms to share financial details with their regulator and demanded detailed reporting about partner oversight and training of staff assigned to public company audits.
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