SEC Approves 2024 PCAOB Budget and Accounting Support Fee

Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved the 2024 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee. The 2024 PCAOB budget totals $384.7 million, and the accounting support fee totals $358.8 million, of which $331.0 million will be assessed on public company issuers and $27.8 million will be assessed on registered broker-dealers.

“A critical feature of our capital markets is that investors rely on public company disclosures, including their financial results. Essential to investors’ trust in the reliability of such financial information is an independent audit of issuers’ financial statements,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “Congress understood this when they passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in response to some of the largest accounting frauds and bankruptcies in the history of our country. I support this $385 million budget — supporting a modest two percent increase in headcount — because of the important role the PCAOB plays in protecting investors and facilitating capital formation.”

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which established the PCAOB, provides the Commission with oversight responsibility over the PCAOB. This includes reviewing and approving the PCAOB’s budget and accounting support fee annually.