Grant Thornton and Five Other Firms Got Coal in Their Stockings From the PCAOB
The PCAOB added six audit firms—three international, including a KPMG affiliate, and three in the U.S., including Grant Thornton—to its 2022 naughty list on Dec. 22 for not making required disclosures on Form 3. If a PCAOB-registered accounting firm is a defendant or respondent in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding that was initiated by another […]
Warning to Auditors: The PCAOB Is Coming For Dat Ass
PCAOB Chair Erica Williams had some strong words for guardians of capital markets in remarks she made (virtually) at the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) Fall Conference on September 22: “[T]his Board is approaching enforcement with a renewed vigilance.” She said: As our strategic plan makes clear, this Board is approaching enforcement with a renewed […]
Idiot Who Backdated Work Papers Will Never Work in This Town Again
The PCAOB is busy sniffing out poor audit behavior to remind everyone to be on their game and don’t get caught doing boneheaded things like faking your audit homework because the PCAOB test is tomorrow. Look, the audits don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be performed correctly. Now this guy is permanently […]
Even KPMG in South Africa Could Not Escape the Clutches of PCAOB Enforcement
Earlier today the PCAOB gave KPMG of the South African variety a slap on the wrist and punished a couple of partners for the firm collaborating with an outside accounting firm not registered with the PCAOB on three years’ worth of audits of a public company. That non-registered accounting firm was KPMG Zimbabwe. And these […]
The PCAOB Ain’t Messing Around No More
After getting rid of the boil on its butt (that boil being ex-chairman William Duhnke) last June, the PCAOB seems to be feeling pretty good now under the leadership of Erica Williams. And that’s bad news for audit firms. The PCAOB has created new ways of disciplining audit firms and auditors who bend the rules, […]
Citrin Cooperman Got Sent to Their Room By the PCAOB For Broker-Dealer Audit Screw-Ups
After doing a quick Google search, it looks like the PCAOB hasn’t punished a public accounting firm for failures in its audits of brokers and dealers since 2016. But top 25 firm Citrin Cooperman broke that drought yesterday after being fined $200,000 by a disappointed PCAOB for violating standards related to broker-dealer audits. And three […]
In KPMG Australia Cheating Scandal, Apparently Cheaters *Do* Win
From Australian Financial Review: Chartered Accountants ANZ has belatedly ruled that only 12 of the 422 members from big four consulting firm KPMG who took part in systemic exam cheating will be put through the professional body’s individual disciplinary process. The body’s disciplinary committee ruled that the “activities undertaken” by 410 KPMG CA ANZ members […]
Better Late Than Never: PCAOB Fines Ex-KPMG Vice Chair of Audit Scott Marcello $100,000 In Connection With Inspection Scandal
It only took five years, but Scott Marcello finally received some sort of punishment for what happened in KPMG’s audit practice several years ago as partners were working with PCAOB insiders to illegally receive advanced notice of the PCAOB’s inspection plans for KPMG audits. Marcello, KPMG’s former vice chair of audit, was fined $100,000 today […]
SEC and PCAOB Enforcers Took An Extended Smoke Break In 2021
People who work in the enforcement divisions at the SEC and the PCAOB must have been busy doing other things than monitoring the gatekeepers of the capital markets last year, as accounting and auditing enforcement activity decreased and monetary settlements fell sharply, according to a recently released report from Cornerstone Research. The two regulators made […]
PwC Canada Is the Latest Big 4 Firm to Get Busted By Regulators For Employees Cheating on Internal Training Courses
Ever since KPMG was fined $50 million by the SEC in June 2019 as a result of auditors at all levels cheating on internal online training exams by illegally sharing answers with colleagues and manipulating test results (as well as that whole KPMG audit partners stealing confidential inspection information from the PCAOB thing), we have […]
Deloitte Canada Fined $350,000 By the PCAOB For Fudging Audit Workpapers
Someone lit a fire under the asses of those who work in the PCAOB enforcement division because they issued seven disciplinary orders to audit firms and accountants from Sept. 22 to Sept. 30. One of those firms was Deloitte Canada. Compliance Week reported: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on Wednesday [Sept. 29] imposed […]
PwC Probably Won’t Be Including Ex-Audit Partner’s PCAOB Fine In Trust Solutions Marketing Materials Anytime Soon
July 1, 2014 was a big day for Sarah Martin, as she was one of 180 chosen ones who were admitted to the partnership by PwC. On that day the Richmond, VA-based Martin became a partner in assurance, which along with tax now falls under the Trust Solutions umbrella at P. Dubs. Now fast-forward seven […]
KPMG Australia Audit Partners and Staff Didn’t Get Away with Cheating on Internal Training Exams Either
At the end of the Married With Children episode, “Go For the Old,” Al Bundy says: “It’s only cheating if you get caught.” Well, KPMG got caught. The firm was busted for cheating on internal training exams. Again. Just like in the US. This time the cheating was running rampant in Australia. The PCAOB fined […]
Accountants Behaving Badly: PCAOB Fines Australian Firm, Larcenies In Massachusetts, Slammer Time
Plus, a former chartered accountant in India is accused of murder, and a U.K. accountant is jailed for three years for stealing thousands of pounds from car dealership. PCAOB fines Australian accounting firm $50,000, revokes registration for not following auditing rules too well [PCAOB] The PCAOB recently revoked the registration of Sydney-based HLB Mann Judd […]
Accountants Behaving Badly: Whitley Penn and 3 CPAs Fined, Misappropriation and Mail Fraud, Gambling Away Client Money
PCAOB fined Whitley Penn $200,000, three CPAs for really crappy auditing Back in March, the PCAOB disciplined top 45 firm Whitley Penn and three of its partners for ignoring the fact that there are PCAOB rules in place for public issuer audits. With all the coronavirus hysteria that has been going on, we failed to […]
Accountants Behaving Badly: PCAOB Fines CPA, Scammer CPA Pleads Guilty, CPA’s License Suspended
Plus, an accountant from India is accused of spewing hatred, and a Michigan tax preparer allegedly stole more than $400,000 from clients. PCAOB fines CPA firm owner for not playing by the rules [PCAOB] Rizwan Ahmed, owner of Ahmed & Associates CPA P.C. in New York, was fined $10,000 by the PCAOB on April 21 […]
PwC and BDO Hong Kong Affiliates Got Their Hands Slapped by the PCAOB
As we begin to take a look back at the year that was 2019, one of the weird things public accounting firms were disciplined for this year by the PCAOB was for not disclosing that they’ve been the focus of a non-PCAOB disciplinary hearing. According to PCAOB Rule 2203, if a firm is a defendant […]
Uh-Oh, PwC, You’ve Gotten the Attention of the PCAOB
Somebody at the PCAOB must have read the Wall Street Journal article last week about Mattel and its auditor PwC allegedly burying an accounting error tied to Mattel’s ownership of Thomas & Friends because everyone’s favorite mess of an audit regulator is reviewing PwC’s work, according to Bloomberg, and probably whether the firm broke any […]
Memo to Audit Firms: Altering Workpapers Is Still Frowned Upon
Amid all the drama and turmoil going on at the PCAOB right now, one thing hasn’t changed: PCAOB inspectors really love busting auditors for improperly altering workpapers. Eight auditors—two at Deloitte Korea and six at BDO Mexico—found this out the hard way recently. Because these auditors ignored the memo that altering audit workpapers is never […]
Marcum’s Microcap Conference Seemed Like a Great Event for Auditor Independence Violations
In the storied history of auditor independence violations by PCAOB-registered accounting firms, Marcum broke the rules in a rather unique and spectacular way: it publicly advocated its audit clients as investment opportunities. The PCAOB was probably giddy writing and sending out this press release on Sept. 10: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today announced […]
Ex-EY Audit Partner’s Lousy Audit Judgment Landed Him a $25,000 Fine From the PCAOB
Earlier today, we talked about audit quality or the lack thereof in Australia, the U.S., and, for that matter, all over the world. Well, this latest enforcement order from the PCAOB doesn’t help make a case that audit quality at the biggest accounting firms in the U.S. is getting any better. Compliance Week reported: The […]
PCAOB Doesn’t Take Kindly to Auditors Who Alter Audit Documentation Prior to an Inspection
For years, the PCAOB has pleaded with auditors to quit altering audit workpapers after being notified of an inspection, and some auditors continue to thumb their noses at the PCAOB. Like Humayoun Khan, a former PwC auditor, who was accused of improperly altering a previously archived workpaper in anticipation of a PCAOB inspection. A PCAOB […]
It Seems the PCAOB and SEC Are Giving Accountants the Benefit of the Doubt More These Days
Maybe it’s because the PCAOB had a new chairman and a whole new board at the beginning of last year. Or maybe it’s because the audit regulator’s longtime enforcement chief bolted last May and the position still hasn’t been permanently filled. Whatever the reason, the PCAOB settled only 13 enforcement actions against accountants in 2018, […]
The PCAOB Is Sick and Tired of Not Being Told About Firms’ Past Disciplinary Hearings
RSM US isn’t the only firm that has been lazy about disclosing to the PCAOB that they’ve been involved in a non-PCAOB disciplinary proceeding. In fact, RSM’s affiliate in Hong Kong and Deloitte’s affiliate in Colombia are also guilty of taking too damn long to send the PCAOB the proper paperwork. And now both firms […]
KPMG Bermuda’s Head of Ethics Fined By the PCAOB For Being Unethical
Here’s a fun story of what not to do if you’re an ethics director at a Big 4 firm. Damion Henderson, a managing director at KPMG Bermuda, was fined $10,000 by the PCAOB on April 9 for signing off on documents that had been re-created and backdated in advance of a PCAOB inspection and not […]
PCAOB Fined RSM US $15,000 for Taking Its Sweet-Ass Time to File a Form 3
Say a PCAOB-registered accounting firm is a defendant or respondent in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding that was initiated by another regulator. That firm has to let the PCAOB know about this by filing Form 3, Special Report, within 30 days after the event. The firm also has to let the PCAOB know that it […]
Grant Thornton Current and Former Partners Will Have a Seat In the PCAOB’s Penalty Box
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board doled out suspensions to a current partner and a former partner at Grant Thornton on Feb. 26 for their roles in screwing up the 2013 audit of a real estate investment trust. Richard Huff Jr., CPA, was censured and given a one-year ban by the PCAOB. Huff was the […]
The Person At the PCAOB Who Auditors Feared the Most Is Now Their Friend
In an interesting turn of events, Claudius Modesti, who was the head enforcer at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for 14 years before leaving last May, will now be defending audit firms that run afoul of the PCAOB and the Securities and Exchange Commission in his new role with law firm Akin Gump Strauss […]
PCAOB Told SEC ‘Hold My Drink,’ Went All Enforcement-Crazy on Accountants in 2017
2017 was a banner year for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board when it came to enforcement actions against accountants. For the Securities and Exchange Commission, not so much. The PCAOB finalized 35 enforcement actions involving “accountants”—otherwise known as CPAs employed by SEC registrants, auditors, and audit firms—last year, up from 28 in 2016, according […]