PCAOB considering a more logical organization of its standards

The PCAOB will meet Tuesday to consider adopting a reorganization of its standards that would be designed to make the standards easier to navigate.

Currently, the board’s standards consist of:

• Standards originally issued by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board, which the PCAOB adopted in 2003 on an interim, transitional basis.
• Standards issued by the PCAOB.

The PCAOB in March 2013 proposed a reorganization that would present both types of standards together in a logical order that generally follows the flow of how audits are conducted. At the time, PCAOB member Lewis Ferguson said the long-term goal should be for the board to have well-organized standards that are readily searchable through the software tools available to practitioners, allowing them to easily navigate the standards.

The Center for Audit Quality, which is affiliated with the AICPA, submitted a comment letter supporting the reorganization and providing suggestions to improve and support the PCAOB’s efforts.

Last May, the PCAOB made a supplemental request for comment as it posted on its website a demonstration version of how the reorganized standards might look.

The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday and will be available via webcast at the board’s website.

—Ken Tysiac (ktysiac@aicpa.org) is a JofA editorial director.