Final answer:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversees the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), focusing on protecting investors and ensuring the integrity of the financial markets.
Step-by-step explanation:
The organization that oversees both the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing laws concerning the stock and options exchanges in the United States. Its primary goal is protecting investors and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets.
After the accounting scandals involving corporations like Enron and WorldCom, stricter regulations were put in place to enhance corporate governance and protect investors. This led to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, which aims to increase confidence in the financial information provided by public corporations and protect investors from accounting fraud. The SEC was given the authority to oversee the PCAOB, which in turn oversees the auditors of public companies, while the FASB is responsible for setting accounting and financial reporting standards for public companies in the US.