{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-whitehouse-call-out-accounting-regulator-for-profoundly-troubling-failures-unacceptable-error-rates-in-public-company-audits", "Warren, Whitehouse Call Out Accounting Regulator for \u201cProfoundly Troubling\u201d Failures, \u201cUnacceptable\u201d Error Rates in Public Company Audits", "2024-10-10", "2024", "2024-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren, Whitehouse Call Out Accounting Regulator for \u201cProfoundly Troubling\u201d Failures, \u201cUnacceptable\u201d Error Rates in Public Company Audits\n\nNearly half of 2023 audits had significant deficiencies.\n\n\u201cThis is an astonishing finding that calls for immediate action by the PCAOB\u2014and careful review by regulators\u2026.(I)nvestors and the public essentially face a coin flip when it comes to whether they should believe and trust the results of public companies\u2019 audits.\u201d\n\nText of Letter (PDF)\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), members of the Senate Committee on Finance, called on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to establish stricter accountability for accounting firms with \u201cunacceptable\u201d deficiency rates. The PCAOB is charged with overseeing the audits of public companies to protect investors and provide the public with \u201cinformative, accurate, and independent audit reports.\" But the agency is not doing its job.\n\nLast year, the PCAOB\u2019s review of over 200 accounting firms\u2019 audits found that 46% had errors so significant that that auditor \u201chad not obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support its opinion\u201d about a public company\u2019s financial statements and financial reporting. The findings of this review reveal a nearly complete failure by the agency and cast doubts on the auditing process that plays a crucial role for investors in publicly traded companies.\n\n\u201c[T]he findings of this new analysis reveal a nearly complete failure [by PCAOB], indicating that investors and the public essentially face a coin flip when it comes to whether they should believe and trust the results of public companies\u2019 audits,\u201d wrote Senators Warren and Whitehouse.\n\nYet, the PCAOB does not appear to recognize the seriousness of the problem. In fact, Chair Erica Williams said the report showed \u201csmall signs of movement in the right direction.\u201d And Board Member Christina Ho downplayed the findings, asserting that \u201cthere is another side to the story.\u201d\n\n\u2018[T]his is the wrong conclusion to draw from an embarrassing and intolerable set of findings,\u201d wrote Sens. Waren and Whitehouse.\n\n\u201cThe PCAOB must do better. \u2026Either [auditing] standards are inadequate\u2014or the PCAOB is failing to establish accountability for firms that do not meet them. These are unacceptable failures by the PCAOB,\u201d concluded the lawmakers.\n\nThe senators request clarification about how the PCAOB plans to hold auditors accountable for ongoing problems by October 23, 2024.\n\nSenator Warren has led the charge to ensure the PCAOB is effective and accountable to the public:\n\nIn January 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to the PCAOB raising concerns about crypto accounting firms\u2019 independence and methodology following reports of whitewashed audits of crypto firms with histories of malfeasance.\n\nIn May 2021, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler requesting the SEC use its authority to immediately remove and replace the members of the PCAOB, which sets standards for audits of public company financial statements required under Sarbanes-Oxley.\n\nIn April 2017, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) wrote to PCAOB, raising questions and releasing new information about KPMG's role as the independent auditor of Wells Fargo during the time period in which thousands of Wells Fargo staff engaged in fraudulent behavior affecting millions of accounts.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:55:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-whitehouse-call-out-accounting-regulator-for-profoundly-troubling-failures-unacceptable-error-rates-in-public-company-audits"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5391749329864979, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}