PCAOB board members Jurata and Zietsman plan to resign

Two members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Rebekah Goshorn Jurata and Megan Zietsman, jointly announced Monday they plan to resign by Oct. 1, or earlier if new board members are named.

The announcement comes amid a recent shakeup on the board after the Securities and Exchange Commission under its new chairman, Gary Gensler, abruptly removed PCAOB chair William Duhnke III in June and announced it would be replacing the rest of the board members as well (see story). The SEC named Duane DesParte as acting chairman, but he too is expected to depart when a replacement is named. Goshorn Jurata and Zietsman were the only other remaining board members after the departure of Duhnke in June and J. Robert Brown Jr. in January, both of whom have not yet been replaced.

Duhnke and the rest of the board members appointed during the Trump administration have come under fire for relaxing their oversight of the accounting and auditing profession, decreasing the number of enforcement actions, forcing out much of the senior staff, especially Democrats, and not convening meetings of the PCAOB’s outside advisory groups, the Investor Advisory Group and Standing Advisory Group. Duhnke also is reportedly under investigation by the SEC for his behavior (see story).

Courtesy of the PCAOB

Zietsman is a former chief auditor at the PCAOB who was promoted last October after board member James Kaiser departed (see story). Goshorn Jurata is a former White House aide who served as a special assistant to the president for financial policy and joined the PCAOB in November 2019. They jointly announced Monday their intention to leave by Oct. 1 at the latest.

“We have individually notified the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) of our respective intentions to resign from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on the earlier of Oct. 1, 2021, or the date of the appointment of new Board members,” Goshorn Jurata and Zietsman said in a statement. “While it has been an honor to serve as Board Members of the PCAOB and a privilege to work alongside our dedicated staff to advance our important mission, neither of us applied to be considered by the Commission for the Board seats that we currently hold. We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the staff of the PCAOB for their hard work and dedication. We are especially proud of the perseverance they have demonstrated during the past 18 months in adhering to our values and working to advance our mission, despite the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the many challenges associated with it. Thanks to their efforts and adaptability, the PCAOB has been able to advance key initiatives and accomplish its statutory mandate in very challenging times.”