The Securities and Exchange Commission has named George Botic acting chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, effective July 23, following last week’s resignation of Erica Williams, whose last day as PCAOB chair is today.
“I am honored to work with the SEC and the staff of the PCAOB as acting chair to ensure that we meet the mission established by Congress,” Botic, a CPA who has served on the audit regulator’s board since Oct. 25, 2023, said in a statement on Monday.
Williams announced on July 15 she was stepping down as PCAOB chair amid published reports that say she was asked to resign by Paul Atkins, the Trump administration’s new head of the SEC.
- Related article: Erica Williams Resigns as PCAOB Chair
“I thank Erica Williams for her dedicated service on the board, and I look forward to working with George Botic as acting chair,” Atkins said on July 22.
Williams began her second term as chair of the PCAOB on Oct. 24, 2024. The SEC, under then-chair Gary Gensler, reappointed Williams to her current role in June 2024.
- Related article: PCAOB Chair Sworn in For Second Term
- Related article: Erica Williams Gets Second Term as PCAOB Chair
A lawyer by trade, Williams was first appointed chair of the PCAOB in November 2021 and was sworn in on Jan. 10, 2022, becoming the first woman chair of the PCAOB and the first person of color to lead the board. She succeeded William Duhnke, who was ousted in June 2021 before completing his first term as chair.
During her tenure as head of the PCAOB, Williams has taken a tougher enforcement approach than her predecessor, including conducting sweeps, which allows the board to collect information on potential auditing violations from several accounting firms at the same time, while also updating outdated auditing standards and making inspection reports more transparent to investors.
Among her biggest achievements was in 2022 when the PCAOB secured complete access to inspect and investigate audit firms headquartered in China for the first time in history and brought enforcement actions against China-based firms.
- Related article: U.S., China Reach Preliminary Audit Review Deal to Avoid Delistings
- Related article: PCAOB Granted Authority to Inspect Chinese Audit Firms
The PCAOB has imposed record fines on audit firms under Williams’ tenure, but the board has faced criticism from some in the accounting profession that it has focused unfairly on minor infractions.
Prior to joining the PCAOB, Williams was a litigation partner with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. She previously spent more than a decade in various roles at the SEC, including as deputy chief of staff to three former SEC chairs and assistant chief litigation counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement trial unit. After leaving the SEC, Williams served as special assistant and associate counsel to President Barack Obama with a focus on financial and economic policy issues.
Botic is a former director of the PCAOB’s Division of Registration and Inspections, where he oversaw the registration and inspection of all domestic and foreign accounting firms that audit public companies whose securities trade in the U.S., as well as all broker-dealer audits.
He has served in various other roles at the PCAOB, including director of the Office of International Affairs, special advisor to former PCAOB chair James Doty, and deputy director of the Division of Regulation and Inspections.
Earlier in his career, Botic was a senior manager with Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He’s a graduate of Shepherd University and received a Master of Accountancy from Virginia Tech.
Photo caption: PCAOB member George Botic speaks during the PCAOB’s Small Business and Broker-Dealer Forum on June 5, 2024.
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Tags: Accounting, Auditing, Erica Williams, George Botic, PCAOB, SEC
