The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has announced that Patricia Ledesma, Acting Director and Chief Economist, Research and Economic Tools, in the Office of Economic and Risk Analysis (ERA), will leave the PCAOB in June after more than five years of service.
"Dr. Ledesma is well-respected for her dedication to developing and managing research programs,” said Chairman William D. Duhnke. "We are grateful for her hard work to advance the PCAOB’s economic analysis programs and wish her all the best in the future."
In 2014, Dr. Ledesma joined the PCAOB as Program Leader to build the Center for Economic Analysis. In her role, she worked to advance evidence-informed policy and foster economic research on auditing. In 2017, the Center for Economic Analysis grew into the ERA, of which Dr. Ledesma was appointed as Acting Director.
Among other accomplishments, Dr. Ledesma developed the PCAOB's research fellowship program, a regular seminar series, and the annual research conference on “Auditing and Capital Markets.” To date, the research program has resulted in 22 papers in circulation, including work by fellows and staff economists. Eight papers have been published or are forthcoming in peer-reviewed journals.
Under her tenure as Acting Director of ERA, the PCAOB produced its first post-implementation review of a PCAOB rule or standard on AS 1220: Engagement Quality Review. She also led efforts to build the PCAOB’s research infrastructure to enable the organization to derive insights and better leverage data and information collected as part of the PCAOB’s oversight activities.
Before joining the PCAOB, Dr. Ledesma worked as an Assistant Dean and Director of Research Support at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She earned a BA in social sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and received her MA and PhD in economics from the University of Notre Dame.
The PCAOB is a private-sector, non-profit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies and other issuers. All PCAOB rules and standards must be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
