Audit watchdog sees faster inspection reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. audit industry's watchdog board should begin issuing its inspection reports on accounting firms more quickly this year, after an "embarrassing" 2006 delay, a board member said on Tuesday.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has been criticized by investor groups for being too slow to issue its inspection findings. Shareholder activists say reports that are not current cannot help them assess how corporate auditors are performing.

PCAOB board member Kayla Gillan acknowledged the delays, and said her group is trying to speed up.

"It's ridiculous and embarrassing -- it's unacceptable," she said at the Reuters Regulation Summit in Washington. "We have to get better."

The group is only now releasing its 2005 findings on big audit firms, Gillan said. But she said the board hoped to release the 2006 reports "as soon as possible this year."

The PCAOB was created under 2002's Sarbanes-Oxley law to help prevent future Enron-style audit failures. Under its congressional mandate, the PCAOB must inspect audit firms that review the books of U.S.-listed public corporations.