Do You Have Something To Tell The PCAOB? I Did.
This is a reprint from January.
Dear Madame:
Thank you for your recent submission to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). We appreciate your taking the time to contact us. This automated response confirms that the PCAOB has received your communication.
The PCAOB’s mission is to oversee the auditors of public companies in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, fair, and independent audit reports. Because the members of the public are an important source of information for the PCAOB in the fulfillment of its mission, we will review carefully your information. You should know, however, that it is the PCAOB’s policy to conduct its investigations on a confidential basis and, so, this may be the only follow-up that you receive.
The PCAOB conducts its investigations on a confidential basis to preserve the integrity of its investigative process as well as to protect persons against whom unfounded charges may be made or against whom the PCAOB determines that enforcement action is not necessary or appropriate. The PCAOB cannot disclose matters relating to investigations unless and until the matter becomes a public proceeding under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the PCAOB’s rules.
If you have any documents or other information that pertains to this matter, you may forward that information to the PCAOB by mail or facsimile. Our mailing address is: PCAOB Complaint Center, 1666 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006 and our facsimile number is (202) 862-0757. You also may communicate with the PCAOB via e-mail at tips@pcaobus.org or by calling (800) 741-3158. For more information you may visit our PCAOB Center for Enforcement Tips, Complaints and Other Information website at http://www.pcaobus.org/Enforcement/Tips.
We appreciate your interest in the work of the PCAOB.
Very truly yours,
Marion E. Koenigs
Associate Director, Division of Enforcement and Investigations Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ________________________ PCAOB Center for Enforcement Tips and Complaints
1666 K ST NW #800 | WASHINGTON DC 20006
TEL: 800-741-3158 | FAX: 202-862-0757
EMAIL: TIPS@pcaobus.org
Hello Francine,
Now you really have me wondering what you submitted for consideration by the PCAOB. Is that posted somewhere and I just don’t know how to get there?
Sara McIntosh
@Sara McIntosh
Ha, ha… Any tips to PCAOB or SEC are completely confidential. If I did tip them on something I would never tell. I’m sure some of the firms are wondering too. 😉
I thought you just sent comments to the PCAOB regarding their performance as a member of the public. It never occurred to me you were giving any “tips.” Since you put the PCAOB contact information on this site, do you have any suggestions regarding the best approach for we, the public, to take when we write? Specific topics we should address? This could be grass roots action. If you don’t like the grass, get some Roundup.
Thanks
@Oversight for the Better
Hi, I complain and suggest to the PCAOB often. I have no qualms about passing along ideas and tips for things I think they should look into. For example, I often see or hear of situations that I think cross the independence boundaries. I also complain a lot about how long investigations and disciplinary actions take. And I cite the examples of firms who continue to employ and even put in positions of responsibility partners who are suspended by the SEC. They may or may not act on my ideas and suggestions, but I send them along anyway.
I strongly encourage anyone in the firms or at a listed company to communicate either anonymously or via the various contacts in the letter I posted. I trust them to handle these communications confidentially and to take them very seriously. I would also be glad to act as a conduit, in particular to report ethical or independence violations you see on the job.
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