SEC Chair Atkins Forces Out PCAOB Chief Erica Williams

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has removed Erica Williams as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after SEC Chairman Paul Atkins asked for her resignation. Williams, who has led the watchdog since 2022, told staff her last day will be July 22; the PCAOB confirmed the departure, and Atkins said he had accepted her resignation and thanked her for her service. Williams, a Democrat, overhauled audit-firm rules and imposed record penalties during her tenure. Her ouster had been widely anticipated after Republicans gained control of the SEC, which has previously replaced PCAOB leadership when administrations changed. No successor has been named. The leadership shake-up coincides with other signs that the Trump-era SEC is pulling back from aggressive corporate enforcement. Earlier on Tuesday, the agency moved to dismiss a long-running Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case against two former Cognizant executives.