Sarbanes Oxley Unscathed by Supreme Court Decision, Big Four Also Win

David Nelson, Big4.com

June 29, 2010

We blogged yesterday about the impact of the Supreme Court decision on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which was mainly procedural rather than operational. Apart from requiring that PCAOB members could be removed by the Securities and Exchange Commission “at will” rather than “for cause”, the Court did not require any significant changes in the operation of the PCAOB.

All is well also on the flip side.

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PCAOB Can Operate As Usual, Despite Supreme Court Decision

David Nelson, Big4.com

June 28, 2010

A deeper reading of today’s Supreme Court judgment reveals two critical points:

One

PCAOB Board members are removable by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) only for good cause. However, the Court had an issue with how the Board members could not be removed by the President of the United States, even for good cause. Since PCAOB was considered part of Government, it had to function in sync with the President’s agenda, and thus he should have full power over appointing anyone and removing anyone he chose from the PCAOB hypothetically for any reason. The Congress of the United States through the Sarbanes Oxley Act, in effect prevented the President from removing PCAOB members and thus fully managing the Executive Branch. This was against the Constitution’s fundamental separation of powers, thus unconstitutional.

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US Supreme Court Rules PCAOB Law Is Unconstitutional

David Nelson, Big4.com

June 28, 2010

“We are asked, however, to consider a new situation not yet encountered by the Court.”

This sentence in the opinion of the the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) says it all – they and we are dealing with new material and new situations hitherto not encountered.

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