Board Names New Leader of Denver Office

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced today that it has selected Mark West as Regional Associate Director of Inspections for the Board’s Denver office, succeeding Michael Pauk, who has informed the Board that he will leave his post on March 10.

Mr. West, 54, has served as Associate Director of Inspections in the Board’s Washington, DC, office since August 2004. He started his career in public accounting in 1974 in Arthur Andersen’s Kansas City office. In 1977, he joined F.B. Kubik & Company in Wichita, Kansas. Kubik merged with Baird Kurtz & Dobson, now BKD LLP, in 1992.

“Mark has played a major role in building our small-firm inspection team,” said George Diacont, Director of Registration and Inspections. “Through his efforts and leadership, the small-firm inspection process has continuously improved. As the first head of the Denver office, Mike laid valuable groundwork for the PCAOB, and we wish him every success in his new venture. ”

Mr. Pauk, a former partner in Ernst & Young, joined the PCAOB in November 2004 as associate director of inspections. He leaves the PCAOB to join a private business venture.

The Board’s regional offices primarily support the PCAOB’s inspections program, which is headquartered in Washington, DC. In addition to the Denver office, PCAOB inspectors are based in offices in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Orange County, California.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires the Board to conduct annual inspections of registered accounting firms that audit more than 100 public companies. Under the Act and the Board’s rules, other firms that audit, or play a substantial role in auditing, any public company are required to be inspected at least once every three years. The Board also has the authority to conduct special inspections as is necessary or appropriate to address issues that come to the Board’s attention.