Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) are asking the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to do more to regulate the audits of cryptocurrency companies in the wake of recent high-profile bankruptcies of companies like FTX, AccountingToday.com reported. In a letter Wednesday to PCAOB chair Erica Williams, they pointed to the "sham audits" touted by crypto companies. They pointed to the limited audits provided by firms like Prager Metis and Armanino for FTX prior to its collapse, and the insufficient "proof of reserve" examinations offered by other firms. "The ongoing reports of scandalous accounting practices in the crypto industry raise questions about crypto accounting firms' independence and the methods they employed to assess the integrity of crypto firms' financial statements, underscoring the need for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to act to ensure accountability," Warren and Wyden wrote. "When PCAOB-registered auditors perform sham audits — even for firms that may lay outside of the PCAOB's jurisdiction — they tarnish the credibility of the PCAOB and undermine confidence in the PCAOB-registered auditors that investors and the public rely on when making investment decisions."
