Accounting Support Fee

The largest source of funding for the PCAOB comes from the companies whose financial statements must be audited by PCAOB-registered firms. Section 109 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act, requires funds to cover the PCAOB annual budget, less registration and annual fees, to be collected from issuers, as defined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and from brokers and dealers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

The amount due from issuers and brokers and dealers is referred to as the "accounting support fee.” The total accounting support fee is equitably allocated between issuers (the issuer accounting support fee) and broker-dealers (the broker-dealer accounting support fee).

Generally, equity issuers with an average, monthly U.S. equity market capitalization greater than $75 million during the preceding calendar year, and investment companies with an average, monthly U.S. equity market capitalization, or net asset value, greater than $500 million during the preceding calendar year are allocated shares of the issuer accounting support fee.

Generally, SEC-registered brokers and dealers with average, quarterly tentative net capital greater than $5 million during the preceding calendar year are allocated shares of the broker-dealer accounting support fee.

Failure to pay an allocated share of the accounting support fee constitutes a violation of law. The Board may report nonpayment of allocated shares of the accounting support fee to the SEC and, in the case of broker-dealers, to their designated examining authority.

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