The Securities and Exchange Commission gave its approval Monday to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s new standard for an enhanced audit report.

The PCAOB voted to approve the new standard in June, expanding the scope of the audit report to include a discussion of “critical audit matters” that have been communicated to the audit committee, particularly those that involve “especially challenging, subjective or complex auditor judgment” (see PCAOB makes major changes to auditor’s report).

The SEC typically rubberstamps any new standards approved by the PCAOB, but in the case of the new audit reporting model, a group of powerful industry trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and major corporations banded together and asked the SEC to reject the new standard (see Business groups object to new standard). They claimed that the requirements for disclosure of critical audit matters, or CAMs, would result in the disclosure of immaterial information, replace management as the source of original information, and create a chilling effect on the audit committee—auditor relationship, creating liability for businesses and auditors, and imposing additional expenses on firms.

The SEC also received an unprecedented number of comment letters on the proposed rule, PCAOB board member Jeanette Franzel said at a recent panel discussion hosted by the New York State Society of CPAs (see Auditors prepare for PCAOB audit reporting changes).

SEC chairman Jay Clayton issued a statement Monday, however, supporting the commission’s decision to approve the new standard.

“I strongly support the objective of the rule to provide investors with meaningful insights into the audit from the auditor,” he said. “CAMs are designed to provide investors and other financial statement users with the auditor’s perspective on matters discussed with the audit committee that relate to material accounts or disclosures and involved especially challenging, subjective, or complex auditor judgment. Investors will benefit from understanding more about how auditors view these matters.”

The new standard has been in the works since 2010, Clayton noted, in response to investor comments that the independent auditor’s report should provide more specific information about how the auditor reached his or her opinion. The PCAOB held three rounds of public solicitation of comment along with substantial outreach to various stakeholder groups, he pointed out.

The deadline for making a decision was slated to be this Thursday, and Clayton is scheduled to attend a meeting of the PCAOB’s Investor Advisory Group on Tuesday with SEC chief accountant Wes Bricker.

The Center for Audit Quality praised the approval of the new standard. “The CAQ welcomes the enhanced auditor’s reporting model to provide additional information to investors and other stakeholders in an increasingly complex and global business environment,” said CAQ executive director Cindy Fornelli in a statement. “We appreciate the PCAOB’s responsiveness to the auditing profession’s concerns and recommendations throughout the proposal process, including observations from the CAQ’s field testing. This is a positive step toward continuous improvement of the audit to better serve investors and our capital markets. We look forward to working with the SEC and PCAOB during implementation of the new model to encourage a seamless transition for preparers, auditors, audit committees, and investors.”

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