Board to Publish Interim Standards on Web Site

Washington, D.C., Sep. 15, 2004

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today announced that it will publish its interim auditing, attestation, quality control, ethics and independence standards on the Board’s Web site. These standards were developed and used by the auditing profession before the establishment of the Board, and the Board adopted them in April 2003 as interim standards for use in connection with audits of public companies.

The publication of the standards on the Board’s Web site is made possible by the consent of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The ability to publish the AICPA-developed standards allows the Board appropriately and clearly to convey to auditors their current responsibilities in auditing public companies. The publication will also enable the Board to communicate the effects that new, permanent standards developed by the Board have on the interim standards.

“We are taking this step to promote the clarity and accessibility of the professional standards applicable to audits of public companies,” said PCAOB Chairman William J. McDonough. “By permitting us to display the interim standards developed by the profession on our Web site, the AICPA has made a valuable contribution to the public interest.”

The Board’s interim standards, primarily as codified in the AICPA’s Codification of Statements on Auditing Standards, will be published under Standards on the Board’s Web site.

The archived webcast of the meeting can be found here.