Nearly 1,700 accounting firms are registered with the PCAOB, of which about 40% are non-US firms. The proposed rules implement Section 102(d) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which provides that each registered accounting firm must submit an annual report to the Board, and may also be required to report more frequently. The reporting framework proposed by the PCAOB includes two types of reporting obligations:
- First, the proposal would require each registered firm to provide basic information once a year about the firm and the firm's issuer-related practice over the most recent 12-month period.
- Second, the proposal identifies certain events that, if they occur with respect to a registered firm, must be reported by the firm within 14 days.
In addition, the PCAOB has proposed rules that, in certain circumstances, would allow a successor firm to succeed to the registration status of a predecessor firm following a merger or other change in the registered firm's legal form. Click to download the
(PDF 58k). The full text of the proposed rules may be downloaded from http://www.pcaobus.org/Rules/Rulemaking_Docket.aspx.
Comments are due 24 July 2006.