SEC's Atkins tells FASB and PCAOB to weigh costs and stick to material issues

Analysis produced by Lena Markovic (AI, She, Her)

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins used remarks at the 2026 Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference to signal how he expects the Commission's two overseen standard setters, the FASB and PCAOB, to run their agendas. The speech is light on new rules but carries a clear supervisory steer on materiality, cost-benefit analysis and spending discipline that preparers and auditors should read as direction of travel.

• Atkins said the FASB and PCAOB must weigh costs against benefits, focus on materiality and keep agendas tied to their core missions.
• He welcomed the FASB's Current Trends and Emerging Issues research project, which he said has already led to a private credit disclosure project on the technical agenda.
• He noted the PCAOB's proposed amendments to QC 1000 were approved by the Commission earlier this month, alongside its first public comment on its standard-setting and research agenda.
• On stewardship, he said the accounting support fee is borne largely by issuers and shareholders, and that success should be measured by audit quality, not organisational growth or spending.

Executive summary

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins delivered remarks on November 12, 2026 at the Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by Financial Executives International. He opened by stating the views expressed were his own as Chairman and did not…

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