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Just a week before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments about constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and why it should be dissolved, the members of the Board asked for a 16% in the overseer’s 2010 budget. This amounts to an additional $25.7 million to hire 60 more employees, for international inspections, undertaking a new group of audit firms, and additional focus on increasingly complex accounting rules. The legal battle and monetary controversy has followed the PCAOB over several years, with critics displeased that PCAOB board members are paid more than the SEC commissioners and the President of the United States.

QUESTIONS:

  1. When was the PCAOB established and why? What issues trouble academics and others about the Board’s make-up?
  2. What is the group that is suing to dissolve this Board and for what reason?
  3. What are several things that could theoretically result if the Supreme Court rules against the PCAOB’s constitutionality?

SOURCE:

Johnson, S. (2009). “Its Future in Limbo, the PCAOB Asks for More Money,” CFO (Retrievable online at: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14459825/1/c_2984347)