The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has appointed William D. Duhnke III as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). He is currently the staff director and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The SEC also named the following board members:

• J. Robert Brown, a professor of law at the University of Denver where he heads the Corporate and Commercial Law program;

• Kathleen M. Hamm, the global leader of securities and fintech solutions and senior strategic advisor on cyber solutions at Promontory Financial Group;

• James G. Kaiser, a partner and the global assurance methodology and transformation leader at PwC; and

• Duane M. DesParte, senior vice president and corporate controller of Exelon Corp.

The PCAOB is working on new auditing standards that put more scrutiny on fair value estimates. Under the proposed rules, the auditor must do more work unless the fair value estimation process is rock-solid.