U.S. Audit Regulator Rejects Charge of Political Interference

The head of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board pushed back against concerns raised by former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt that the board’s independence has suffered from political interference.

William Duhnke, who became chair of the PCAOB in December 2017, said changes underway at the U.S. audit regulator are challenging but necessary to improve audit quality.

• “Our motivation is to increase audit quality. And the only way we’re going to do that is change the way we’re doing things,” Duhnke told regulators, auditors, and investors at a Baruch College conference Dec. 3.
• Duhnke said not everyone supports the changes the ...