PCAOB's Hanson quits two years before end of term.
PCAOB member Jay Hanson, who joined the audit regulator in 2011, resigned unexpectedly in December, two years before his term was to end. No reason was given for Hanson's departure. During his time on the board, Hanson developed a reputation as a defender of the auditing profession. In his final public decision before resigning, Hanson was the lone dissenting vote against the PCAOB's 2017 budget, the first time a board member has done so since the board was established.
Reorganized auditing standards go into effect at end of 2016.
The PCAOB's reorganized auditing standards became effective at the end of 2016. The audit regulatory board adopted the reorganized standards to make them easier to read and use in March 2015 in Release 2015-002, Reorganization of PCAOB Auditing Standards and Related Amendments to PCAOB Standards and Rules. Under the changes, individual standards are grouped by topic and organized in a four-digit numbering system, which replaces the sequentially numbered standards. “It essentially follows the flow of how the audit is conducted,” PCAOB Chief Auditor Martin Baumann said on December 6 at the AICPA's Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments in Washington. “We think this will help various users of our standards to navigate the standards more easily.”