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Cheating your CPD training? KPMG $50M fine offers a salutary lesson

22/09/2021

KPMG fined $50 million for using stolen data, exam fraud: U.S. SEC. The fine was one of the largest ever imposed on an auditor by the SEC.

KPMG LLP has agreed to pay a $50 million fine over

  1. Allegations former staffers used the stolen information to alter some of the accounting firm's previous audit work and
  2. Cheated on training exams, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.

The SEC said in a statement:

  1. KPMG admitted to the SEC's allegations and agreed to hire an independent consultant to assess
    • The firm's ethics and integrity controls,
    • As well as its compliance related to abuse of the exams issued by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Steven Peikin, one of the SEC's enforcement directors, said:

  1. "The breadth and seriousness of the misconduct at issue here is, frankly, astonishing,"
  2. "This settlement reflects the need to severely punish this sort of wrongdoing while putting in place measures designed to prevent its recurrence."

A KPMG spokesman said the auditor has

  1. "Learned important lessons through this experience,"
  2. Adding that the firm is stronger as a result of actions it is taking "to strengthen our culture, our governance and our compliance program."

Read more - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kpmg-usa-idUSKCN1TI1PO

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