(Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has pushed out the head of the U.S. watchdog that oversees public company auditors, according to an email to staff seen by Reuters.

Erica Williams, who has led the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board since 2022, said in the email her last day will be Tuesday, July 22, after SEC Chairman Paul Atkins asked her to resign.

The PCAOB in a statement confirmed Williams' departure, and Atkins said in a statement that he had accepted Williams' resignation and thanked her for her service.

The removal of Williams, a Democrat, has been expected after Republicans took control of the SEC earlier this year. New leaders at the agency have in the past ousted the heads of the PCAOB.

Under Williams' leadership, the PCAOB overhauled rules for auditors and ratcheted up pressure through record-setting penalties for misconduct.

Williams told staff in her email she did not know who would take over leading the PCAOB, a nonprofit created by Congress in 2002 in response to a series of high-profile accounting scandals and auditing failures.

"Together we have accomplished more to protect investors through our standard setting than any Board since the PCAOB was established," she said in the email.