The SEC must approve the PCAOB’s budget for 2027 before the end of this year and the audit regulator was preparing to present the SEC with a proposal that includes cuts to staff numbers, in part to free up money to invest in technology, according to people familiar with internal conversations.
“The SEC is pressing pretty hard,” said one person. “It’s more than we are used to at a granular level from the SEC.”
Jim Logothetis, who was appointed by the SEC in December to lead the PCAOB, told the FT it was “premature” to conclude that there would be cuts, as the budgetary process was in its early stages. The PCAOB declined further comment.
Senior managers had been told to draw up options for downsizing their divisions, the people said, and the PCAOB had also engaged the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal to review its structure before the submission to the SEC in the summer.
Source: US audit regulator weighs deep staff cuts to unit overseeing accounting firms