The work that some PCAOB-registered accounting firms have performed for clients in the cryptocurrency industry may well have been, at best, questionable and possibly in violation of the standards of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that apply to private company audits. But that does not give the PCAOB jurisdiction over their conduct. If Congress wants the Board to become involved in policing audit and other reports that accounting firms provide to crypto participants, it will have to amend the law to give it that power. Alternatively, if the SEC believes these crypto companies should register as broker-dealers (and permits them to do so), their auditors’ work will then fall within the PCAOB’s jurisdiction. Until then, it is pointless to criticize the PCAOB for failing to involve itself in the crypto space.
Source: Oversight of Crypto Auditing: Asking the PCAOB to Go Out of Bounds | by Dan Goelzer
