The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Sellers was an audit director at BF Borgers, which was
In addition, the Board found that Sellers violated auditor independence requirements by serving as the NetSol engagement partner for a sixth consecutive year.
“Engagement partners are the first line of defense for investors and the public relying on audited financial statements,” PCAOB Chair Erica Williams said in a statement. “Partners who shirk their obligations increase risk in the marketplace and will be held accountable.”
Sellers also authorized the issuance of audit reports for each of the NetSol audits, which identified critical audit matters. Those CAMs included descriptions of audit procedures intended to address each CAM, but some of those procedures were not actually performed.
“The engagement partner here abrogated her duties to appropriately audit the significant risk areas she identified, failed to abide by partner rotation requirements, and gave investors the impression certain CAMs were addressed when they were not,” Robert Rice, director of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations, said in a statement. “Conduct like this puts investors at risk and will not be tolerated.”
Without admitting or denying the findings, Sellers consented to the PCAOB’s order, which:
- Censures Sellers;
- Bars her from associating with a PCAOB-registered firm, with a right to reapply after two years; and,
- Imposes a $15,000 civil money penalty on her. Based on her conduct, the Board would have imposed a $75,000 penalty if it had not taken her financial resources into consideration.
PCAOB sanctions PwC Singapore
Today the PCAOB also
Over nearly two years, personnel in PwC Singapore’s Independence Office understated the rates at which firm personnel failed to properly or timely report their financial interests and relationships. The personnel developed and implemented methods, including misclassifying certain failures — known as Personal Independence Compliance Testing exceptions — as self-reported. As a result, on two separate occasions, the firm provided understated PICT exception rates to the PCAOB as part of its remediation of prior inspection findings.
The PCAOB found that the firm leadership’s focus on achieving a targeted PICT exception rate, in combination with a lack of appropriate PICT-related policies and procedures and controls, enabled the misconduct. The Board also found the firm failed to give appropriate consideration to the assignment of quality control responsibilities when appointing its partner responsible for independence.
“It is imperative that firms maintain an appropriate ethical culture in all aspects of their system of quality control,” Rice said in a statement. “Firms must properly monitor and report on compliance with their independence-related policies and procedures to ensure the Board and investors have accurate information.”
Without admitting or denying the findings, PwC Singapore consented to the PCAOB’s order, which censured the firm, imposed a $1.5 million civil money penalty, and imposed remedial measures related to the firm’s independence processes.
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