PwC's Schiro Supports Industry Oversight Board

PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO James Schiro has a message for his fellow Big Five auditors: It's time to take your medicine.
Having already been prescribed its own dose of regulatory medicine, PwC, in a show of support for the Public Oversight Board, an independent entity funded by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, continues to publicly challenge the AICPA for having cut its support of the POB as it relates to its independence compliance reviews.
"Funding for the POB's special compliance reviews must be continued," says Schiro. "We are committed to providing our share of the funding and urge other firms to do likewise. Thwarting special reviews is contrary to the profession's interests," he adds.
Given how a POB review of PwC last year exposed numerous independence compliance infractions, Schiro's statements may be sending a mixed message to the firm's Big Five rivals, who, while continuing to proclaim themselves "in compliance," have apparently lost confidence in the review process.
The PwC CEO's comments came on the heels of a speech given last month by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, who has urged auditors to support the Public Oversight Board in its review of its larger member firms.

Sidebar: Levitt's List

In the coming months, the SEC will consider how to deal with auditor independence. Levitt says that any regulatory action must address a few fundamental public policy questions, including:
• Should there be more appropriate limits on the types of services that an audit firm can render to a public company client?
• How should audit firms be structured to ensure independence?
• What are the consequences, if any, of public ownership?
• Should firms be permitted to affiliate with entities that provide services to the firms' audit clients which the firms themselves