Membership on the board of the PCAOB has long been one of D.C.’s most lucrative gigs, and in his statement on the appointment process for new board members last summer, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins made it clear that he intended to take a hard look at board compensation in the SEC’s evaluation of the PCAOB’s 2026 budget request.  The PCAOB tried to read the room and proposed a 20% cut in board compensation when it submitted its budget request for the upcoming year.

Yeah, nice try guys.  Yesterday, the SEC approved a PCAOB budget for 2026 that slashes the compensation of the PCAOB’s chair and its other board members by 52% and 42%, respectively. Like they say, “that’ll leave a mark.”  Anyway, here’s what Chairman Atkins had to say about the reductions in his statement on the budget:

In 2007, during my final vote on a PCAOB budget before leaving the Commission, I highlighted two main concerns, which I will briefly revisit now.

The first concern was the high salaries of the PCAOB Board members, prompting me to reject the budget that year. I highlighted then that “[t]he SEC can and must provide objective oversight with respect to the Board’s salaries. If we do not oversee those, nobody else can.”This budget, I believe, addresses this first concern, reducing the chairman’s and other Board members’ compensation by 52 percent and 42 percent, respectively. This action demonstrates a clear commitment to aligning PCAOB Board pay more closely with the ethos of public service that reinforces trust, demonstrates fiscal responsibility, and affirms the honor of stewardship over the capital markets.

Chairman Atkins said his second main concern in 2007 was the PCAOB’s lack of a strategic plan, which the SEC subsequently required the PCAOB to implement. Development of an updated strategic plan is one of the Chairman’s top priorities for 2026.

– John Jenkins