The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will begin a search for a new chief auditor after Barbara Vanich announced she will leave the post on July 15 after more than 17 years with the audit regulator.
“I have greatly valued Barb’s expert advice—her accomplishments at the PCAOB have been extraordinary,” PCAOB Chairman Demetrios Logothetis said in a statement on June 26. “We thank her for her leadership and dedication, and we wish her well as she embarks on a new professional opportunity.”
A media release didn’t reveal what that new opportunity is.
Vanich, a CPA who joined the PCAOB in February 2009, has served in several roles, including associate chief auditor, special adviser to former board member Kathleen Hamm, deputy chief auditor, and acting chief auditor.
She was named PCAOB chief auditor in October 2022.
During Vanich’s tenure as chief auditor, the PCAOB adopted several new standards intended to improve audit quality and to protect investors. Most notably, the PCAOB in May 2024 adopted QC 1000, A Firm’s System of Quality Control, the board’s new quality control standard that will become effective on Dec. 15. The new rules feature a risk-based approach designed to drive continuous improvement in audit quality.
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In addition, Vanich oversaw the development of other major standard-setting projects, the creation of resources to help audit firms implement new standards, the launch of the PCAOB’s Audit Practitioner Fellowship Program, the PCAOB’s first-ever request for comment on potential future areas of focus for standard setting, and the creation of a firm consultation process through which registered public accounting firms can submit standards-related questions directly to PCAOB staff and receive informal staff views.
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“It has been an honor to advance the PCAOB’s investor-protection mission, together with my talented colleagues in the Office of the Chief Auditor and so many others across the PCAOB,” Vanich said in a statement on Friday.
Before joining the PCAOB in 2009, Vanich was an auditor and senior manager at Big Four accounting firm KPMG, worked in accounting policy at JPMorgan Chase, and practiced as a consultant, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The PCAOB said it will solicit applications from qualified candidates soon.
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