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The Trump administration has picked a 40-year veteran of the Big Four accounting firm EY to lead regulation of the audit profession in the US.
Jim Logothetis was appointed on Friday to be the next chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which enforces audit standards and inspects accounting firms, ahead of what is expected to be significant reform of the organisation.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the PCAOB, has cut the organisation’s budget and demanded a break from the policies of the Biden era, when the regulator imposed record fines and a number of new standards that upset audit firms.
Logothetis’s career at EY included running its relationships with Coca-Cola, Fiat Chrysler and Whirlpool, among other clients, according to his LinkedIn profile. He retired from the firm in 2019.
The SEC also appointed three other new board members, meaning only one figure — current acting PCAOB chair George Botic — will carry over from the Biden-era board.
“I am confident that this new board will usher in a new day at the PCAOB, one of sensible, efficient oversight of auditors,” said SEC chair Paul Atkins.
The other new board members are Mark Calabria, chief economist to then-vice-president Mike Pence and most recently chief statistician in the US Office of Management and Budget; Kyle Hauptman, chair of the National Credit Union Administration, a government insurance scheme for financial institutions; and Steven Laughton, a longtime US Treasury official who was also an adviser to a former PCAOB board member.
Logothetis’s nomination means alumni of EY now hold significant sway over regulation of the audit profession. The SEC’s chief accountant, Kurt Hohl, whose role includes oversight of the PCAOB and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, was also at EY for more than 25 years.
As well as cutting the PCAOB’s budget for next year by 9 per cent, the SEC slashed the pay of board members by 40 per cent — a fact noted by Atkins on Friday.
“The newly appointed chairman and board members have already demonstrated a profound commitment to protecting investors and responsible use of such funds by accepting compensation much more in line with the ethos of public service,” he said.
“I look forward to working with this board as it refocuses on the PCAOB’s core statutory mission, protecting investors and furthering the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.”
