Crowe U.K. was assessed a penalty of 144,000 pounds (U.S. $181,000) by the U.K. Financial Reporting Council (FRC) for failures in its audit of Aseana Properties Limited’s financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019.

The FRC reduced its penalty from £180,000 (U.S. $226,000) for cooperation and steps taken to ensure nonrepetition, the regulator announced Tuesday.

The details: The FRC found the reviewed audit unsatisfactory and of poor quality, with specific deficiencies in the carrying value of inventory, assessment of fraud risk, and engagement quality control review oversight.

Compliance considerations: The FRC accepted written undertakings proposed by Crowe, which will be monitored by the regulator’s audit quality review team.

The regulator acknowledged Crowe’s early cooperation and appropriate remedial steps once the failings were identified.

Firm response: “We are pleased the matter has been settled,” Crowe said in an emailed statement. “We have continued to develop our audit methodology and guidance in the four years since the work was carried out and to make significant investment in our audit business. Audit quality and its continuous improvement remain a key priority for the firm.”

Jeff Dale is Managing Editor, Editorial Projects and Analytics, at Compliance Week. He previously served as Compliance Week's Digital Editor and has worked as a copy editor at the Boston Herald and city editor at The Hour Publishing Co. in Norwalk, Conn.View full Profile

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