简体中文
Accounting giant KPMG has been fined and reprimanded by regulators over a defective audit of Britain's Co-op Bank and its audits of lenders will face additional checks for three years.
Britain's Financial Reporting Council said KPMG had been fined five million pounds (6.54 million U.S. dollars), discounted for a settlement to four million pounds.
KPMG audit partner Andrew Walker was also fined 125,000 pounds, discounted for settlement to 100,000 pounds, and reprimanded.
The penalties relate to a 2009 audit of the Co-op Bank shortly after its ill-fated merger with the Britannia Building Society, which pushed it to the brink of collapse.
The penalties come at a difficult time for Britain's big four accountancy firms – which also include PwC, Deloitte and EY – with regulators calling on them to be broken up after a string of auditing failures on major firms including BHS and Carillion.
All KPMG's audit engagements with credit institutions for audits ending in 2019, 2020 and 2021 will be subject to an additional review by a separate KPMG audit quality team who will provide reports to the FRC, the regulator said.
KPMG will also pay 500,000 pounds towards the FRC's costs.
The FRC said KPMG and Walker both admitted their conduct fell significantly short of standards expected in assessing the fair value of Britannia's loan book.
The accountancy firm failed to obtain sufficient evidence and to exercise sufficient professional skepticism and failed to inform Co-op Bank the financial statements were not adequate.
KPMG was not immediately available for comment.
(CGTN)
