Plans to name and remove members of the PCAOB and for empowering it to issue auditing, quality control, and ethics standards have survived constitutional challenges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB, D.D.C., No. 06-0217 (JR), 3/21/07), where a judge rejected claims under the appointments clause, the separation of powers doctrine, and the non-delegation doctrine brought by a business advocacy group and a small Nevada accounting firm that is the subject of an ongoing disciplinary hearing before the PCAOB.
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The plaintiffs alleged that the appointment of PCAOB members violates the Constitution's appointments clause. The court decreed that PCAOB members "have no power to render a final decision on behalf of the United States unless permitted to do so by other executive officers," and are subject to the administrative oversight and removal authority of the SEC, among other details of the debate.
Elsewhere, Board chairman Mark Olson and Charlie McCreevy have discussed enhanced cooperation between the PCAOB and European auditor oversight bodies and advance collaborative efforts.
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