- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Maria L. Murphy2024-01-31T13:32:00
In November, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced penalties for violations of U.S. securities laws and PCAOB rules and standards under its first enforcement settlements with mainland China and Hong Kong firms since the passage of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.
Two affiliates within PwC’s global network, PwC Hong Kong and PwC China, were fined $4 million and $3 million, respectively, for allegedly failing to detect or prevent their employees’ cheating on mandatory internal training exams. The penalties were the largest imposed against a China-based firm and the second and third largest imposed in the PCAOB’s history.
These penalties were historic because of the location of the firms and the monetary totals. But these kinds of deficiencies are not new.
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Chinese authorities banned PwC’s Chinese unit from performing audits in the country for six months, labeling the subsidiary’s flawed audit work as complicit in the failure of giant property developer Evergrande.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board adopted two new standards that address key audit areas upon which it was relying on benchmarks established more than 20 years ago.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board imposed collective fines totaling $150,000 against three partners at KPMG China for violations of standards related to their audit work at education service provider Tarena International.
Erica Williams was reappointed to a second term as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after an ambitious first three years in the role that have seen the agency work to update many of its standards deemed outdated.
Software company Autodesk said it won’t restate several years of financial statements following an audit committee investigation into potential accounting misconduct.
Los Angeles-based bank holding company Broadway Financial Corp. disclosed in a public filing weaknesses discovered in its internal control over financial reporting because of training shortfalls.
