The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced Dec. 23 that William Ryan has been named acting director of the audit regulator’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations.
In this role, he will oversee and direct the PCAOB’s investigations and enforcement of violations of its rules, professional standards, and other applicable securities regulations.
Ryan will assume the role following current PCAOB Enforcement Director Robert Rice’s retirement on Dec. 31, 2025.
Before this most recent appointment, Ryan was the Enforcement Division’s chief counsel, a role to which he was named in 2023.
Ryan joined the PCAOB in January 2007 and was promoted to become a division deputy director in 2012.
Prior to joining the PCAOB, Ryan served for eight years as an assistant director and trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division. He also has worked as a teaching fellow at Columbia Law School and as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton.
Ryan holds a B.A. from Tufts University and a J.D. and LL.M. from Columbia Law School.
“Enforcement is integral to the PCAOB fulfilling its mission to protect investors by holding firms and individuals accountable for compliance with the PCAOB’s standards, rules, and applicable laws, and deterring misconduct,” PCAOB Acting Chair George Botic said in a statement. “Throughout his many years at the PCAOB, Bill has done outstanding work to advance the PCAOB’s enforcement efforts, and we are fortunate that we can call on him now to step in as DEI’s acting director.”
Rice joined the PCAOB as enforcement director in March 2023. During his tenure, the PCAOB took enforcement action on a wide range of matters and issues posing risk to investors in U.S. markets, including the organization’s first settled orders involving mainland China and Hong Kong auditors attributable to the access the PCAOB secured in 2022 to inspect and investigate firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong.
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“We thank Bob for his notable service at the PCAOB and wish him well in his retirement and future endeavors,” Botic said.
Photo caption: William Ryan speaks during a PCAOB Small Business and Broker-Dealer Forum on April 3, 2025.
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Tags: Accounting, Auditing, PCAOB, PCAOB enforcement, William Ryan
