Board Announces an Increase in its 2009 Accounting Support Fee

Washington, DC, March 16, 2009 -- The PCAOB today announced that it has raised the 2009 accounting support fee from $151.8 million to $157.4 million and, in a March 13, 2009 letter from PCAOB Chairman Mark W. Olson to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro and the other Commissioners, sought the Commission’s approval of the revised fee.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the accounting support fee is the amount annually assessed to public companies and other issuers, in proportion to their market capitalization, to fund the Board’s activities. Today’s action would increase the PCAOB’s previously established 2009 accounting support fee, which the SEC approved in December 2008, by 3.7 percent. However, the Board would not use these additional funds until such time as both the Board and the Commission have approved a supplemental budget.

As discussed in the letter, the Board intends to consider whether to submit to the Commission a supplemental budget request to implement any new legislation related to oversight of nonpublic broker-dealer auditors, should the PCAOB gain such authority. Separately, the Board also intends to consider whether to submit a supplemental budget request to strengthen the PCAOB’s non-U.S. inspections program; enhance documentation of planning and fieldwork of inspections; and enhance the PCAOB’s enforcement resources. The Board will first meet new resource needs by reallocating any available funds from the existing 2009 budget.

The Board’s letter to the SEC is attached.