SEC Commissioners To Attend PCAOB Roundtable on Proposal for Registering Foreign Accounting Firms

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2003-36

Washington, D.C., March 19, 2003 -- Commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission plan to attend a March 31 roundtable meeting organized by the new Public Company Oversight Accounting Board to examine issues relating to registration and oversight of foreign public accounting firms.

The PCAOB is soliciting comment on its recently proposed registration system and the appropriate scope of its oversight of accounting firms located outside the United States. The Board has invited panelists representing foreign regulators, foreign accounting firms and industry organizations, and shareholder groups to attend.

"I'm pleased that the PCAOB is making progress on fulfilling its responsibilities under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and that it is making a particular effort to seek out comment on the important issues of foreign accounting firm registration and oversight," said SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson. "The other Commissioners and I look forward to hearing more on these issues from the participants in the roundtable."

The March 31 roundtable meeting will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the William O. Douglas Room at SEC headquarters, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The meeting will be open to the public and available by webcast at www.sec.gov.

Earlier this month, in an important step toward establishment of a new oversight regime for the auditing profession, the PCAOB released for public comment its proposed rules to create a registration system for public accounting firms. In its proposal, the PCAOB noted that registration raises special issues for foreign public accounting firms. The PCAOB's final rules must be approved by the SEC.

The text of the PCAOB proposal is available on the Board's Web site, www.pcaobus.org. Public comments on the rule proposal are due to the PCAOB by March 31. Written comments should be sent to the Office of the Secretary, PCAOB, 1666 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006-2803. Comments can also be submitted by e-mail to comments@pcaobus.org or through the Board's Web site.