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The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board on Friday concluded its first International Auditor Regulatory Institute.

Representatives from auditor regulators and government agencies from more than 40 countries convened on Wed., May 2, in Washington, D.C., to learn more about the PCAOB’s programs and how it carries out its mandate under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The institute took place over two and a half days, with one full day devoted to discussions about the PCAOB’s inspections program. The institute also covered other activities of the PCAOB, including standard-setting, the enforcement process and international cooperation.

The Sarbanes Oxley Act directs the PCAOB to oversee and periodically inspect all accounting firms that regularly audit U.S. public companies. More than 780 audit firms currently registered with the PCAOB are located outside of the United States, spanning 80 countries.

SmartPros: PCAOB Concludes First International Auditor Regulatory Institute

A FASB staff member and former KPMG partner, Lawrence W. Smith will begin his new job this summer. His appointment is the first since the SEC demanded more say in how FASB candidates are chosen.

Lawrence W. Smith, a 25-year veteran of KPMG, has been appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board to replace outgoing member Edward Trott.

He will serve a five-year term beginning July 1. Trott is retiring after seven and a half years with the board on June 30. Smith has been a member of the FASB staff for nearly five years. He is the director of technical application and implementation activities and chairman of the Emerging Issues Task Force.

The Financial Accounting Foundation announced Smith’s appointment on the heels of controversy surrounding FASB’s independence from the Securities and Exchange Commission. As reported by CFO.com, the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant recently refused to sign off on FASB’s 2007 budget until FAF, its parent organization, gave the SEC more say in the appointment of FASB members and FAF trustees.

In a March 9 memo to the SEC, the FAF agreed to a new process for the SEC to review FASB and FAF candidates. The memo stipulates that the SEC has the power to nominate and interview candidates. The SEC officially certified the FASB’s budget on March 14, a job it was given under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act when FASB’s funding source was switched from audit firms to fees from publicly-listed companies.

CFO.com: FASB Announces Trott’s Replacement

Finance chiefs think that the revised SEC and PCAOB standards won’t change anything because they cancel each other out.

Mismatches between the internal-controls proposals of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will keep compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act overly burdensome and costly, CFOs think.

In letters to the SEC and the PCAOB commenting on the regulators’ proposed revisions to their guidelines, senior finance executives say that the tone and wording of the rules are too different to accomplish their main goal: to get senior top corporate management and audit firms on the same page in assessing and attesting to a company’s internal controls over financial reporting.

CFO.com: “CFOs: 404 Compliance Back at Square One”

A group of America’s largest firms has joined forces to found the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) in a bid to restore corporate confidence in the profession.

The move comes as auditors and companies prepare to adjust to significant changes to the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and audit law, which have been unveiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in recent weeks.

Accounting professionals will dominate the new organisation’s 12-member board. Seven seats will be held by the head of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the chief executives of the six largest audit firms, with two seats rotating among smaller and mid-tier firms. Three public board members will be named shortly, the Dow Jones reported.

AccountancyAge: Audit lobby group formed to combat Sarbox beef-up