The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has released a staff publication for auditors of SEC-registered broker-dealers who perform review engagements on exemption reports.

The document, Broker-Dealer Audit Focus: Review Engagements Regarding Exemption Reports, responds to recurring deficiencies the staff continues to observe under Attestation Standard No. 2, which governs these reviews.

Atestation Standard No. 2, in effect since 2013, applies when an auditor is engaged to review the statements a broker-dealer makes in an exemption report prepared under SEC rules. The standard requires the auditor to plan and coordinate the review with the financial statement audit and with the procedures performed on supplemental information.

It also requires the auditor to obtain moderate assurance through the inquiries and other procedures specified in the standard. The objective is to determine whether conditions exist that would cause one or more of management’s assertions not to be fairly stated, in all material respects.

Accounting Today reports that the publication is part of a new series aimed at broker-dealer auditors. It reflects the PCAOB’s expanded oversight of broker-dealer engagements following the Dodd-Frank Act and is intended to help firms align their procedures with the requirements already in place.