Compliance

The PCAOB: Two Years In


FEI Daily speaks with Ron Edmonds, VP of Controllers and Tax at DOW, about his upcoming discussion at the Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference with PCAOB board members.

Since 2018 and the appointment of five new Board members, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has engaged in extensive efforts to reevaluate the organization and study the auditing profession, particularly considering today’s environment. 

FEI Daily spoke with Controller, VP of Controllers and Tax at DOW and Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference (CFRI ) moderator Ron Edmonds about his upcoming discussion with PCAOB board members and how the Board is making progress against its 5-year strategic plan.

Oliva Berkman: Why is it important that the PCAOB be at a preparer-focused conference like CFRI?

Ron Edmonds: It’s important for two reasons. One, so preparers can hear firsthand what is critically important for the PCAOB, and, more importantly, for the preparers to have a chance to have a dialogue and ask questions about things that are important to them. 

I think that the PCAOB really does want to have a dialogue. This isn't a place where they're just going to get up on stage and give a speech, which, if you go back many years ago, that's really what would have happened. We're going to sit down side by side and really have a dialogue about the critical issues for the PCAOB and how those things impact preparers, what we like about it and what we don't like about it, the positive and negative implications of it. 

The real critical thing is that the PCAOB really is trying to get more engagement with preparers, so preparers can have input into the audit standards before the audit standards are issued. 

Berkman: What are the main topics you hope to discuss with PCAOB Board members and CFRI panelists Jim Kaiser and Duane Desparte at the conference? 

Edmonds: I expect to talk a lot about Critical Audit Matters (CAMs), the things that they've seen so far with some of the mid-year filers and then what are they expecting going forward?
And their research agenda, so to speak. The things that they're mulling over. Additionally, review some proposed standards out there to get a taste of what they're seeing and feeling in that regard.

Berkman: What are you most looking forward to at CFRI this year?

Edmonds: What I really enjoy about CFRI is the chance to not only hear from the who's who in the accounting and reporting space in the United States, the FASB, the SEC, the PCAOB, the Big Four accounting firms, that's critical, but it's also just as important or more important to be able to have the networking opportunities with peers from around the country and talk to them about things of interest to me and to them, to really hear what's going on, what are the hot topics out there, and what people are doing about it.

To learn more, register for this year’s CFRI conference in New York, NY.