KPMG couldn’t talk its way out of trouble, as an independent appellate court in Oman recently upheld a securities regulator’s ruling last November that prohibits the firm from taking on any new auditing clients for one year.
In a statement on March 3, the Capital Market Authority of the Sultanate of Oman said:
“Capital Market Authority (CMA) hereby wishes to inform that the independent appellate body considered KPMG’s appeal against CMA decision that had suspended KPMG from auditing entities regulated by CMA for a period of one year starting from 13 November 2018. The appellate body, after hearing the argument of both parties, issued its judgement on 28 February 2019 upholding the decision taken by CMA.”
KPMG was given the one-year auditing ban late last year after the CMA found “major financial and accounting irregularities” during an investigation of some listed companies it regulates. Following the investigation, the regulator said some audit firms showed “professional negligence” that “warranted disciplinary measures against them in the interests of the investors and other stakeholders.”
After the suspension was made public, KPMG said it was “cooperating with the CMA during the review of certain audits dated prior to 2015 and the firm is fully committed to cooperating with the CMA to resolve these matters.”
