XBRL US responded to the PCAOB’s Draft 2026-2030 Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives. The XBRL US letter addressed two of the five goals in the plan:
- Goal 1: Modernize Standard Setting and Implementation. Our letter recommended that the PCAOB consider the vLEI (Verifiable Legal Entity Identifier) as a standard that can help with the audit process, and the Digital Signatures in XBRL 1.0 Standard (D6) which provides a secure, technology agnostic method to apply legally recognized signatures to XBRL and Inline XBRL. AI makes it easier to fake financial statements, heightening the risk of market manipulation. The D6 specification can help auditing by transforming unstructured electronic signatures into cryptographically sealed, machine-verifiable proof of data integrity and accountability.
- Goal 5: Modernize Oversight Through Technology and Data. Our letter pointed out that the PCAOB has access to highly structured, granular financial statement data, thanks to the SEC public company data collection that has been in place since 2009. Digital, structured, corporate financials paired with artificial intellience tools makes a powerful combination that will help the PCAOB use technology to meet their objectives efficiently and cost-effectively.
Read the letter: XBRL US Letter PCAOB Release No. 2026-006
