The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a $227.7 million budget for the auditing industry’s regulator, boosting its spending by 11 percent as it takes on new duties overseeing broker-dealer audits.

SEC commissioners voted 5-0 for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s 2012 spending plan today at a meeting in Washington. The board, a nonprofit corporation established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to regulate and inspect auditors of U.S.-listed firms, is funded by an accounting fee on companies and registered broker-dealers.

“The PCAOB has grown into an important regulatory body with a significant investor-protection role,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said before the vote. “To do its job -- and do it right -- the PCAOB must have sufficient resources.”

Much of this year’s increase is attributed to a new inspection program for auditors of broker-dealers established under the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation overhaul. Brokers are being assessed about $18 million for 2012.