The PCAOB held yet another public roundtable this week on mandatory auditor rotation. In addition to the usual arguments, a group of academics presented research they say shows benefits to mandatory rotation. They argued that the benefits outweighed the burdensome cost of changing auditors.
On the other side of the argument, a group of CFOs and controllers presented real-world perspectives on the impact of such a change.
“We believe the current five-year rotation requirement of lead audit partners captures substantially all the benefits of mandatory audit-firm rotation in a cost-effective manner, including the important attribute of a fresh set of skeptical eyes,” said Tenet Healthcare’s CFO Daniel Cancelmi.
Patrick Mulva, vice president and controller of ExxonMobil, cited PCAOB’s strong oversight as one reason to avoid mandatory audit firm rotation. He argues the improvements in PCAOB scrutiny have made such rotation unnecessary.
The webcast archive of the Houston roundtable will be available on the PCAOB website.
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