KPMG was to pay 14.4 million pounds after the accounting firm admit to providing false information. To its regulator during spot checks on audits of construction firm Carillion and outsourcing firm Regenersis.
The Financial Reporting Council, the regulator involved, also ordered KPMG to appoint an independent reviewer; into the firm’s current Audit Quality Review (AQR) policies and procedures. KPMG would have been fined 20 million pounds had it not earned a discount for self-reporting the incidents; co-operating with the FRC and admitting to the misconduct, the FRC said.
Five KPMG employees had challenged FRC allegations of misconduct relating to the audits, but an independent Tribunal found against them. A sixth employee settled hours before Tribunal hearings began in January.
The FRC had told the hearing that the former KPMG employees had “forge” and “manufactured” missing documents which had been request by the regulator. KPMG faced the same allegations as its employees because it is liable for their conduct.
Four of the five staff who took part in the Tribunal hearing were between 30,000 and 250,000 pounds, and banned from the profession for between seven and 10 years. The fifth person was severely punish but escaped a fine.