The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to approve the 2025 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee.
The 2025 PCAOB budget totals $399.7 million. The accounting support fee totals $374.9 million, of which $346.1 million will be assessed on public company issuers and $28.8 million will be assessed on registered broker-dealers.
“Well-functioning financial markets are built on trust,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “Critical to such trust are disclosures – including financial statement disclosures made by issuers and broker-dealers to the investing public. I have seen since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley 22 years ago the importance of that law in promoting trust in public company figures. This trust, though, can easily be taken for granted. The PCAOB – an important reform of the George W. Bush Administration – writes the standards for auditors and audits the auditors. That’s the core of what it does, and it’s every bit as important now and into the future.”
“I am confident in the Board’s ability to continue to act as a diligent and responsible steward of publicly sourced accounting support fees, as evidenced by their accomplishments this past year,” said SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which established the PCAOB, provides the Commission with oversight responsibility over the PCAOB. This includes reviewing and approving the PCAOB’s budget and accounting support fee annually.
