The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated an examination of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) audit firm inspection process in September 2025, citing the importance of inspections to the board’s oversight of audit quality, the time since the commission’s previous examination in 2009, and industry concerns about consistency in inspection results, according to a congressional watchdog.

The examination was ongoing as of March 2026, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published on September 3, 2026. The report is largely about bank disclosures, but includes a section that discusses bank audits and PCAOB inspections.

The SEC Division of Examinations is assessing how PCAOB procedures and organizational structure promote the uniform application of inspection activities, the congressional watchdog said.

To dig deeper, visit the original article on the Thomson Reuters blog.