Warren said Duhnkes removal was “absolutely the right relocation” and signified that she would promote a bigger shakeup.
” Our auditing procedure needs to be independent and with integrity,” she stated in a Twitter post. “Lets change the other members with individuals who measure up to the firms objective.”
The SEC, which is led by three Democratic commissioners and 2 Republican commissioners, did not offer a breakdown of the votes it took Thursday. The companys GOP commissioners on Friday rebuked the decision to remove Duhnke, who before being selected to lead the PCAOB in 2017 served as long time assistant to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
In a joint declaration, Republican SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman– who likewise served as assistants to Shelby– stated they had issues about “the hasty and truncated decision-making process underlying this action.” They stated it set a “uncomfortable precedent for the commissions continuous oversight of the PCAOB and for the appointment process.”
” Although the commission has the authority to remove PCAOB members from their posts without cause, in all of our actions, we need to act with reasonable procedure, fully-informed consideration, and equanimity, none of which characterized the commissions actions here,” they stated. “Instead the commission has actually proceeded in an extraordinary manner that is unmoored from any practical requirement that might be meaningfully applied in the future.”
Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the leading Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said it totaled up to a politicization of the PCAOB and that “I will be holding Mr. Gensler responsible for this decision.”
” Chairman Gensler appears to be treating the PCAOB like a political football beholden to a left-wing Democrat Commission that caters progressives like Elizabeth Warren,” McHenry stated. “If this holds true, its unclear why the PCAOB should continue to exist as a different entity from the SEC moving forward.”
Gensler stated in a declaration that the PCAOB “has a chance to measure up to Congresss vision in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” the 2002 law that established the board.
“I eagerly anticipate dealing with my fellow commissioners, Acting Chair DesParte and the staff of the PCAOB to set it on a path to much better safeguard investors by making sure that public business audits are useful, independent and precise,” Gensler said.