- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Adrianne Appel2023-09-29T21:45:00
Accounting firm Prager Metis violated auditor independence rules hundreds of times during a period of nearly three years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged.
The agency filed its lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement, and a penalty against Prager.
Between December 2017 and October 2020, Prager included indemnification provisions in its engagement letters for more than 200 audits, reviews, and exams, which meant the firm was not independent from its clients as required by the SEC, the agency said in its complaint.
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Audit firms should carefully weigh the pros and cons of indemnity clauses in light of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent complaint against Prager Metis, according to a legal expert.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and Securities and Exchange Commission have emphasized in public statements auditor independence is a critical enforcement area, prompting the need for firms to reacquaint themselves with each agency’s requirements.
A former engagement quality review partner at Marcum agreed to pay a $30,000 penalty and be suspended as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission addressing alleged violations of audit standards in his work at diversified holding company Ault Alliance.
Three former executives of Chicago-based Outcome Health, a healthcare technology company, were sentenced for misleading an auditor, clients, lenders, and investors about a scheme to sell $45 million in overbilled advertisements.
A home health company operating in Indiana, Ohio, and Texas agreed to pay nearly $4.5 million to settle allegations it filed false claims by giving sports tickets and other kickbacks to assisted living facilities in exchange for referrals.
Crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank will pay a total of $63 million penalties to California and the Federal Reserve Board to settle charges that its anti-money laundering program failed to properly monitor more than $1 trillion worth of customer transactions.
