SPAC Accounting Questions Get ‘Close’ Watching at SEC Office

The sizzling blank-check IPO market is drawing scrutiny from Wall Street’s top regulator not only for investor protection concerns, but for accounting questions as well.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Chief Accountant has fielded a high volume of questions on “a broad range of issues” about special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, SEC deputy chief accountant John Vanosdall said on Tuesday.

“It’s an area we’re closely watching,” Vanosdall said at a meeting of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s main advisory group.

• The accounting questions about SPACs are a “key driver” of the office’s volume of ...