PCAOB makes it official for chief auditor

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has named Barbara Vanich as its chief auditor after she served as acting chief auditor for nearly two years.

Vanich was named acting chief auditor in November 2020 after serving as deputy chief auditor, associate chief auditor and special advisor. She has been working for the PCAOB since 2009.

Before then, she was an auditor at KPMG, a director at Navigant and a vice president at JPMorgan Chase. 

Vanich will continue to lead the PCAOB’s Office of the Chief Auditor, managing the development of PCAOB standards and ensuring the standards are communicated to auditors and other stakeholders. 

“OCA is an exceptional team of talented professionals, and I am honored to serve as their leader,” Vanich said in a statement Friday. “I am looking forward to what we can accomplish in executing the board’s plan to modernize the PCAOB’s standards for the benefit of investors and our capital markets.”

Modernizing a slew of older standards is one of the main goals the PCAOB has set for itself in its draft strategic plan. Some of the standards date back to before the founding of the PCAOB after passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and were inherited from the American Institute of CPAs.

“High-quality standards are the foundation for quality audits, and modernizing our standards is strategically vital for the PCAOB,” said PCAOB chair Erica Williams in a statement. “As we continue pursuing the most ambitious standard-setting agenda in PCAOB history, we will continue to count on Barb’s outstanding leadership, experience, and dedication to our investor-protection mission.”