It feels like another stand-out moment in America’s rapidly shifting regulatory landscape.

In February, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board(PCAOB) withdrew two high-profile rules intended to enhance transparency and oversight in audit firms. The Firm Reporting rule, which covered areas like audit fees, and the Firm and Engagement Metrics rule, addressing partner and management involvement, workload, training hours, and retention of audit personnel, were launched last November amid great fanfare.

At the time, PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams declared they would make PCAOB oversight “more effective” and provide investors, audit committees, and others with clear, consistent, and actionable data. These rules were then passed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval.

But the change in administration, with Donald Trump’s presidency ushering in a markedly different regulatory approach and key appointments like acting SEC chair Mark Uyeda, shifted the dynamics. In January, the SEC announced it would allow more time for public comment on these separate but related rules. Then, in February, the PCAOB quietly withdrew the proposals a month before the commission was scheduled to approve or disapprove them, without explanation.

Read the full blog article on the Circit website.