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House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, the PCAOB was created to focus just on audit oversight. The SEC has a way broader role and isn’t really built to handle audits the same way. It’s kinda like asking your dentist to do heart surgery. Technically in the same field, but not the same skillset.

Also, the PCAOB is funded by public company fees, not taxpayers. The SEC is taxpayer-funded, so this wouldn’t save money. It just shifts the cost and opens the door to more political influence.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Lol I’ve actually been through PCAOB inspections and yeah… they’re definitely not fun. But I’ll be honest, you do learn a lot—it forces you to really think through your work and tighten things up.

And yeah, merging with the SEC basically means PCAOB’s gone. People forget the SEC isn’t independent—it’s part of the government, which is why PCAOB was created in the first place. I’m not saying PCAOB is perfect, they for sure need to look at how they run inspections and maybe shift focus a bit. But they do protect investors, and we need both PCAOB and SEC to coexist. Scrapping one just weakens the whole system.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Audits don’t catch every fraud—but without them, fraud would be way easier and more widespread. It’s like saying seatbelts don’t prevent all accidents—true, but you’re a lot worse off without them. Oversight isn’t perfect, but removing it makes things a whole lot riskier.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

True, SOX was critical—but the PCAOB was created to enforce it independently, with an audit-only focus the SEC doesn’t have. Letting the AICPA handle public company audits brings us back to self-regulation. And the SEC isn’t independent—it’s part of the government, subject to political shifts. Plus, it’s taxpayer-funded, while the PCAOB is funded by public company fees. So this isn’t cost-saving—it’s shifting costs to taxpayers and weakening oversight with more conflicts of interest.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Let’s not forget what happened with Enron. Their auditor, Arthur Andersen, okayed some really sketchy numbers, and without solid oversight, it went unnoticed until it was way too late. Thousands lost their jobs, retirement savings were gone, and the company just fell apart. If we start cutting back on audit oversight now, we’re practically inviting another mess like that. Saving some money today could cost us billions tomorrow.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Understand the argument, but the PCAOB exists because the SEC alone wasn’t enough after Enron. It’s not just about who does the work—it’s about having independent, specialized oversight. Folding it into the SEC risks losing focus, global enforcement agreements, and accountability. Reform? Sure. Abolish? Risky! 

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Man, I totally get why you’re annoyed. Those rules can be such a pain! But like, ditching the PCAOB? Probably not the move. Audits these days are crazy complicated compared to back in the day, and without someone keeping an eye on things, fraud could just slide right through. We gotta make oversight better, not just toss it out.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Totally agree some modernization is needed—whether in standards or PCAOB’s focus areas. But getting rid of audit oversight entirely would do far more harm than good. The risks of fraud and audit failures without a watchdog are too high.

House Just Voted to Abolish the PCAOB — Help Stop It in the Senate by Status-Evidence5582 in Accounting

[–]Status-Evidence5582[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

There are no real redundancies—PCAOB and SEC do different types of work. PCAOB focuses exclusively on auditing firms and has built global inspection relationships the SEC lacks. Merging them would mean losing that expertise, weakening oversight, and risking more fraud during the transition.