Delays hit US inspection of Big Four
The new US accountancy watchdog had admitted delays in its inspection schedule, causing it to fall short with its annual review of the Big Four as mandated in Sarbanes-Oxley.
Link: US oversight board gets temporary head
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board blamed the hold-up on delays in appointing a chairman and in finding 100 inspectors to perform the task of reviewing the country’s largest auditors.
Acting chairman Charles Niemeier said it wants ‘to do a full inspection of PwC’ by the end of the year, the Financial Times reported. The other Big Four firms will have incomplete reviews of their work by January 2004.
The five members of the Oversight Board must be appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The controversial appointment of its first chairman William Webster, last year led to the resignation of SEC chairman Harvey Pitt followed by Webster’s resignation a few days later.