Litigation partner Douglas Paul in Washington, D.C. spoke with Agenda following the release of a new overview issued by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regarding planned 2022 inspections. The document highlighted how remote work environments generate new auditing and reporting risks. It also outlined new inspection procedures with a focus on potential financial reporting and audit risks driven by the recent economic landscape, including supply chain disruption and company-wide risks at audit firms, "such as the heightened degree of staff turnover and risks arising from auditing in a remote environment." Paul explained that auditors and companies should prepare for much more vigorous enforcement programs.

Agenda wrote, "Historically, large companies that are going through an audit would have a large amount of physical space in their office devoted to the auditors, and there would be a lot of in-person communication going on throughout the audit procedure, which isn’t always the case in a remote work environment, said Paul."