On Jul. 22, Erica Williams stepped down as chair of the PCAOB after SEC Chair Paul Atkins asked for her resignation. In a recent interview with Accounting Today, Williams discussed her tenure at the PCAOB and her future hopes.

"I know that I serve at the pleasure of the Commission, and I am really grateful for the time that I had to serve here, and I believe the work that we were able to do at the Board for audit quality and that investors are better protected today," Williams noted during the interview. "I'm not really concerned about myself. My focus really is on the talented and dedicated staff at the PCAOB and the investors that their daily work protects."

She cited PCAOB's important role, saying that history has demonstrated that in a tight economy where companies "cook the books, hard-working investors get hurt, and that's why the PCAOB was created in the first place." She highlighted the critical role of the SEC's incoming leadership in continuing to "empower the PCAOB staff to carry out its core mission of protecting investors."

She encourages the SEC to preserve PCAOB's functions. "I just really urge them to continue to allow and to empower and to provide resources so that our talented staff can continue to carry out their mission," stated Williams.

She said that PCAOB staff try every day to come up with ways to protect investors, adding that "I'm very proud of the work that we've done over the years, modernizing our standards, enhancing our inspections, and really strengthening enforcement. We made strides in each of those areas. We made significant progress on modernizing our standards."

During her stint at the regulator, seven standard-setting projects were finalized. aside from rulemaking projects that covered 24 rules and standards. In the interview, Williams reiterated her belief that outdated standards are unhelpful. She also emphasized the need to ensure that the rules keep up with current challenges, and said that is what "we went about doing."

PCAOB was also able to strengthen enforcement via inspections in China and Hong Kong. The PCAOB saw a considerable dip in deficiency rates throughout all of different firm categories.

During the interview, Williams did not want to speculate on who might be the next PCAOB chair and if it could be someone already on the board or someone external, pointing out that the board members serve at the pleasure of the SEC. After Accounting Today spoke to Williams, the SEC  announced on Jul. 21 that PCAOB board member George Botic would be serving as PCAOB's acting chair.