Tuesday, September 26, 2006
US regulator denies charges of regulatory creep
The US auditing regulator has denied accusations of ‘regulatory creep’ after it emerged this week that it had sent its inspectors recently to the London offices of Big Four auditor Ernst & Young.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has described as ‘routine’ its visits to E&Y’s offices in early August and September. The visits were carried out in collaboration with the Financial Reporting Council and are understood to have involved PCAOB staff interviewing accountants and examining documents relating to selected clients.
PCAOB Chairman Mark Olson told the Financial Times: ‘I was surprised at the reaction. We accompanied the UK inspectors in that effort. It was a collaborative process.
‘We're looking to try to determine the extent to which we could rely on each other's work’ he added, but: ‘in not all instances will their work overlap with what we need to do in order to complete our inspections. But we are looking for ways to utilise each other's work. What we're going to do is try and understand our approaches first.’
The news about the PCAOB visits came out just a few days after Ed Balls, economic secretary to the Treasury, announced plans for a law which would help protect the City of London in the event of the London Stock Exchange being taken over by US exchange Nasdaq. Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt described Mr Ball’s plans as ‘unilateral turf-protecting’.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has described as ‘routine’ its visits to E&Y’s offices in early August and September. The visits were carried out in collaboration with the Financial Reporting Council and are understood to have involved PCAOB staff interviewing accountants and examining documents relating to selected clients.
PCAOB Chairman Mark Olson told the Financial Times: ‘I was surprised at the reaction. We accompanied the UK inspectors in that effort. It was a collaborative process.
‘We're looking to try to determine the extent to which we could rely on each other's work’ he added, but: ‘in not all instances will their work overlap with what we need to do in order to complete our inspections. But we are looking for ways to utilise each other's work. What we're going to do is try and understand our approaches first.’
The news about the PCAOB visits came out just a few days after Ed Balls, economic secretary to the Treasury, announced plans for a law which would help protect the City of London in the event of the London Stock Exchange being taken over by US exchange Nasdaq. Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt described Mr Ball’s plans as ‘unilateral turf-protecting’.
