PCAOB Green-Lights Funding Fees

The PCAOB approved a plan to fund its operations through fees levied on companies with more than $25 million of average monthly market capitalization and mutual funds with more than $250 million of net asset value.   However, the funding will not be even, with approximately 95% coming from corporations and the remaining from mutual funds, according to a Dow Jones report.

For the largest of the companies, the fees could amount to $1 million or more, acting PCABO Charles Niemeier said, whose replacement was named April 15 – New York Federal Reserve Bank President William McDonough (See  SEC Names McDonough Head of Accounting Board ).

The PCAOB was created in the summer of 2002 by Congress to oversee changes in the accounting industry following scandals involving Enron Corp, WorldCom Inc and other corporations.   With its creation came the end of decades of self-regulation by the industry.

Funding was also recently announced for theFinancial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).   Previously, the Connecticut-based FASB relied heavily on voluntary contributions to fund its operations, but the new funding is scheduled to come courtesy of a new system put into place by the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.