Similarly, she said, the PCAOB talked a lot recently about a failure to pick appropriate sample sizes but didn't seem to do much around that area, and so she believes that this coming year the board will probably follow through. She said that inspections in this area will focus not so much on the sample size itself but more on the consistency from job to job. 

So while procedures have moved a little slowly at the PCAOB, she said practitioners should not expect that trend to continue. 

"We can never lose sight that this is a government agency, though, so the pace of change might not be as quick as if it was a private organization, but the intent is still there," she said. "They do intend to make these changes."