Charles Elson, a securities regulation and corporate governance expert at the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has been appointed to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)’s Standing Advisory Group. He was one of seventeen new members named to the board in December. His three year term as part of the Standing Advisory Group will begin this month.
The United States Congress established the PCAOB to oversee audits of public companies and broker-dealers. The PCAOB aims to prepare independent and accurate audit reports and to protect the interests of individuals investing in public companies. The PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group helps the PCAOB develop professional practice standards and auditing guidelines. Its 42 members include experts in a variety of fields: corporate governance, auditing, accounting, financial reporting, corporate finance, and investing. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board chairman, James R. Doty, observed that the members of the Standing Advisory Group play a crucial role: “The [Standing Advisory Group] consists of experts who have a stake in the preparation of informative, accurate and independent audit reports. Its members are an important source of insight and advice to the board.”
Elson currently serves as the Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair of Corporate Governance and the director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at Lerner. He was recently named one of the 100 most influential governance professionals and directors in the 2013 National Association of Corporate Directors’ Directorship 100. Elson has also contributed articles on corporate governance challenges and boards of directors to several publications.