Accountant Challenges Structure of US Audit Regulator (1)

An unnamed Tennessee-based accountant is suing the US audit regulator, arguing its actions against him are an unconstitutional overreach.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board “is not a ‘court’ ordained and established by Congress,” the accountant said in a complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. “Congress ordained and established the Board as a private corporation.” It therefore doesn’t have the power to prosecute him, the John Doe says.

Congress established the PCAOB in 2002 through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as it sought to restore trust in corporate accounting after the collapse of WorldCom ...