what is the public company accounting oversight board pcaob 
the public company accounting oversight board pcaob is a non profit organization that regulates auditors of publicly traded companies the purpose of pcaob is to minimize audit risk in particular the pcaob oversees the audits of public companies brokers and dealers registered with the u s securities and exchange commission sec understanding the public company accounting oversight boardthe public company accounting oversight board pcaob was established with the passage of the sarbanes oxley act of 2002 the act was passed in response to various accounting scandals of the late 1990s the board protects investors and other stakeholders of public companies by ensuring that the auditor of a company s financial statements has followed a set of strict guidelines the pcaob is overseen by the securities and exchange commission and since 2010 the pcaob has overseen the audits of sec registered brokers and dealers pcaob advisory groupsthe pcaob has two advisory groups the standing advisory group and the investor advisory group the role of these two groups is to provide advice and insight to the board the standing advisory group meets semi annually to discuss data and technology cybersecurity corporate culture communications on pcaob standards the governance and leadership of quality control systems current or emerging issues affecting audits or auditors and implementation of the new auditor s report the investor advisory group meets once a year to discuss the group s strategic plan quality control standards implementation of the new auditor s report and implementation of form ap the pcaob board has developed a five step strategic plan which is laid out in its annual report the five step plan is composed of the following 1the number of pcaob registered firms in the united states as of 2021 according to the pcaob annual report 2the pcaob todayfirms that audit public companies brokers and dealers must register with the pcaob registered firms are subject to inspection of the audits they have performed pcaob is involved in setting standards aimed at improving the reliability of audits and may also enforce standards by imposing penalties for infractions in 2020 pcaob sanctioned 13 firms and 18 individuals resulting from 219 audit inspections 3 in 2021 those numbers were 14 firms and 15 individuals sanctioned following 191 inspections 2