More news from Down Under, as KPMG tries to ward off the litigious spirits related to Leighton Holdings, an international contractor who caught a few people off guard by springing bad news related to some of their projects. Maurice Blackburn, an Aussie law firm, is suing Leighton and their beef is that Leighton didn't disclose that things weren't as hunky dory as they made it seem. It sounds vaguely similar to the Centro case that PwC is wrapped up in, so naturally one might think that the audit firm, in this case KPMG, could get sucked into this mess.
Well, if you ask Aussie Chairman Peter Nash, that is definitely not happening. Why? Simple. The House of Klynveld rocked this thing:
As rival accounting firm and former Centro auditor Price-waterhouseCoopers has become embroiled in a wave of negative publicity in a class action case against the property group, KPMG national chairman Peter Nash denied the firm could face similar issues in an upcoming action by Maurice Blackburn against Leighton. "No, because I think we have executed an outstanding audit," Mr Nash told The Australian.
If any of you rubes need further explanation, Nash goes on to explain that "auditors don't have obligations around continuous disclosure," but the key is KPMG's auditing prowess. That's really what will shoo the lawyers away.
KPMG defends Leighton audit ahead of class action [The Australian]
