PCAOB names William Ryan new acting director of enforcement, investigations

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has appointed William Ryan as its new acting director of its Division of Enforcement and Investigations, succeeding Robert Rice, who is retiring at the end of the year.

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This is the latest step in the overhaul of the PCAOB, which just approved a new slimmed down budget last Friday that will sharply reduce the salaries of its board members and chair next year. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins is also looking for a new set of PCAOB board members after forcing out former PCAOB chair Erica Williams in July. Another board member, Christina Ho, submitted her resignation earlier this month. Last week, the PCAOB named a new acting chief economist and director of its Office of Economic and Risk Analysis, Erik Durbin.

The budget cuts are expected to reduce the amount of money available for enforcement and investigations at the audit regulator. Rice has been enforcement director since March 2023, leading a crackdown on auditing firms, including Big Four-affiliated firms in China and Hong Kong that the PCAOB gained access to in 2022. 

His successor, Ryan, has been working as chief counsel in the enforcement division since 2023. He first joined the PCAOB in January 2007 and became deputy director of the enforcement division in 2012. Before joining the PCAOB, he worked for eight years as an assistant director and trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. He’s also worked as a teaching fellow at Columbia Law School and a law clerk for a federal judge.

“Enforcement is integral to the PCAOB fulfilling its mission to protect investors by holding firms and individuals accountable for compliance with the PCAOB’s standards, rules and applicable laws, and deterring misconduct,” said acting board chair George Botic in a statement Tuesday. “Throughout his many years at the PCAOB, Bill has done outstanding work to advance the PCAOB’s enforcement efforts, and we are fortunate that we can call on him now to step in as DEI’s acting director. We thank Bob for his notable service at the PCAOB and wish him well in his retirement and future endeavors.”

During a recent AICPA conference, Ryan spoke about the priorities of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations.

“DEI prioritizes investigations in four areas,” he said. “First, significant audit failures, particularly those that reflect the lack of due professional care and skepticism. Second, significant independence violations. Third, interference with board processes and other ethical violations. And fourth, quality control violations. This year, 86% of the board’s disciplinary orders and 99% of the civil money penalties imposed have fallen into one or more of these priority areas, and the percentages are similar over the last four years. In that time, 74% of the board’s disciplinary orders and 99% of the civil money penalties it has imposed have concerned violations in one or more of those priority areas.”

He went on to list some examples of orders in those areas. In response to a question about whether he foresees any shift in those priorities in the future, he replied, “In terms of priorities going forward, of course it’s difficult to predict the future, and over the history of the PCAOB, there have been some shifts in enforcement emphasis, but these four priority areas that I’ve mentioned today have remained fairly constant, and I’d expect them to continue to be prominent focuses in the future.”