The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has designated Charles Niemeier to be the acting chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

PCAOB, established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, oversees the audits of the financial statements of public companies through registration, standard setting, inspection and disciplinary programs.

Under the Act, the SEC selects members and the chair of the board. Niemeier will serve as acting chairman until the commission selects a permanent chair to replace Judge William Webster, who resigned following the controversy over his appointment.

Until his selection as a member of the PCAOB, Niemeier was the chief accountant in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and co-chairman of the commission’s Financial Fraud Task Force. He is a lawyer and a CPA.