News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance
Harry Cassin
Publisher and Editor
Andy Spalding
Senior Editor
Jessica Tillipman
Senior Editor
Bill Steinman
Senior Editor
Richard L. Cassin
Editor at Large
Elizabeth K. Spahn
Editor Emeritus
Cody Worthington
Contributing Editor
Julie DiMauro
Contributing Editor
Thomas Fox
Contributing Editor
Marc Alain Bohn
Contributing Editor
Bill Waite
Contributing Editor
Russell A. Stamets
Contributing Editor
Richard Bistrong
Contributing Editor
Eric Carlson
Contributing Editor
How do public company audit committees cope? Their to-do list keeps getting longer and more complicated. Yet somehow, most audit committees still complete their tasks (which, by the way, include FCPA compliance oversight).… Continue Reading
The world’s new standard for measuring and reporting ESG (environmental, social, and governance) is the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics. That document was published in September 2020 under the auspices of the World Economic Forum “in collaboration with Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.”… Continue Reading
After getting caught ignoring its employees and cheating on the CPA ethics exam, EY has become the latest example of how industry and company-level mindsets can turn into corporate liabilities. The SEC slapped a fine of $100 million on the audit firm, making it clear in their enforcement action that it was punishing both the cheating and the firm leadership’s failure to serve as a gatekeeper.… Continue Reading
With the U.S. government encouraging businesses to earn cooperation credit at the penalty phase of enforcement actions through the “naming of names” at the onset of investigations, there might be momentum for more executives being held personally accountable in regulatory enforcements.… Continue Reading
A former KPMG partner and co-leader of the firm’s banking and capital markets group admitted stealing and using confidential information so KPMG could improve the outcome of PCAOB inspections.
David Britt, 56, pleaded guilty in federal court in New York Thursday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.… Continue Reading
The U.S. unit of global accounting firm RSM International was charged Tuesday with violating the SEC’s auditor independence rules on at least 100 audit reports for 15 or more audit clients.… Continue Reading
KPMG LLP agreed Monday to pay a $50 million fine to settle SEC civil charges that former partners used stolen information to learn about surprise regulatory reviews of the firm’s audits and cheated on training exams.… Continue Reading
I and my fellow Canadians can quite rightly be proud of our standing on the global stage. Canada is seen by most as a country with integrity, whose people are viewed as fair-minded and different in persona to some of their noisy neighbors south of the border.… Continue Reading
The DOJ and SEC charged six accountants Monday with misappropriating and using confidential information about the PCAOB’s planned inspections of KPMG.
The six include three former officials at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board or PCAOB and three former partners at KPMG LLP.… Continue Reading
KPMG agreed Tuesday to pay more than $6.2 million to settle charges that it failed to properly audit the financial statements of an oil and gas company that was itself charged with accounting fraud for inflating the value of Alaska assets by more than $400 million.… Continue Reading
The Financial Reporting Council is investigating KPMG for failing to spot large-scale bribery at Rolls-Royce. But there are serious questions whether the regulator, which is yet to impose a sanction in a corruption-related case, will carry out a proper inquiry.… Continue Reading
The United Kingdom accounting regulator said Thursday it has opened an investigation into KPMG for audits the firm did for long-time client Rolls-Royce Holdings plc.
The Financial Reporting Council or FRC said its decision to investigate KPMG “follows the SFO announcement on 17 January 2017 of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement between the SFO and Rolls-Royce which relates to offenses including conspiracy to corrupt and a failure to prevent bribery.”… Continue Reading