US Audit Board Chair Pledges to Modernize Inspections Program

The chair of the US audit watchdog told an advisory group Wednesday that he is seeking to modernize the regulator’s approach to inspecting the work of accountants who vet financial statements for stocks collectively worth trillions of dollars.

Audit inspections should leverage each firm’s internal assessments to identify risky clients and financial reporting areas that warrant greater scrutiny from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Chair Demetrios Logothetis said during a public discussion with the group. That shift in approach could mean the PCAOB inspects more individual audits, Logothetis said.

“This is our No. 1 priority,” he said of ...