米PCAOB、グラントソントンに１．５百万ドルの罰金（CFOより）

PCAOB Fines Grant Thornton $1.5 Million

米PCAOBが、グラントソントンの米国法人に対し、監査品質管理基準違反で１．５百万ドルの罰金を課したという記事。監査上の問題点を解決することも命じています。グローバル・ネットワーク組織に属する米国内の監査事務所が、監査品質問題でPCAOBから摘発されたのは初めてだそうです。

Following what the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is calling its first finding of quality control violations at a domestic, global network accounting firm, the PCAOB and Grant Thornton reached a settlement fining GT $1.5 million and requiring the firm to fix certain auditing problems.

2013年から2014年にかけて、フィラデルフィア事務所が担当した2つの監査で、PCAOB規則違反、品質管理基準違反、監査基準違反があったそうです。

In a disciplinary order issued Tuesday, the board charged that from 2013 to 2014, GT violated PCAOB rules, quality control standards, and auditing standards in two audits of financial services clients conducted out of its Philadelphia office.

The Bancorp Inc.という会社の2013年12月期の財務諸表監査・内部統制監査に関連する監査基準違反も指摘しています。

GT also broke PCAOB rules and violated auditing standards in connection with its audit of The Bancorp Inc.’s December 31, 2013, financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting, the board alleged.

具体的には、フィラデルフィア事務所の2名のパートナーに監査上の懸念事項があるとわかっていながら、２社の発行者の監査で、エンゲージメント・パートナーに選任し、十分なサポートやモニタリングも行わなかったという指摘です。

The firm “violated PCAOB quality control standards by assigning two partners from its Philadelphia office, with known audit quality concerns, to serve as engagement partners on two separate fiscal year-end 2013 issuer audits, without providing them sufficient support or monitoring,” according to the board’s disciplinary order.

２人のパートナーの熟練と技術的能力に重大な懸念があったとのことです。Bancorp社の監査を担当した一人のパートナーは、過度な仕事量が懸念されており、もう一人のパートナーは「パフォーマンス改善計画」の対象者でした。

Before the Philadelphia office’s year-end 2013 audits, GT “had significant concerns with the proficiency and technical competence of two engagement partners” in the office’s financial services group, according to the order. Among the concerns was “an overly burdensome workload” shouldered by David M. Burns, the engagement partner on the 2013 Bancorp audit.

Other concerns moved GT to place the other partner, who is unnamed in the PCAOB order, on a “performance improvement plan.” The firm also developed “other remedial plans to address audit quality issues within the office,” the board said.

“Despite those concerns, Grant Thornton failed to take sufficient steps to properly support or monitor” the two partners when it assigned them to each serve as an engagement partner on two separate 2013 issuer audits for financial services clients, according to the PCAOB.

グラントソントンは、これら２人のパートナーが、過年度のいくつかの監査を適切に実施しなかったことを知っていたそうです。

Grant Thornton knew that the two partners “had failed to appropriately perform certain issuer audits in prior years,” the board added.

事務所だけでなく、パートナーの一人にも、監査基準違反ということで、罰金（15,000ドル）や業務停止処分が課されています。

The PCAOB also sanctioned Burns, now a former Grant Thornton partner, for his violations of PCAOB auditing standards in his work in the 2013 Bancorp audit. Burns was fined $15,000 and barred from associating with a PCAOB-registered accounting firm, with the right to petition to remove the bar after one year.

監査手続や監査判断の違反は監査の問題ですが、ヒトに関しては監査品質の問題となるようです。日本でも、欲張ってan overly burdensome workloadを抱えているパートナーやインチャージは要注意では。

Grant Thornton US “a case study for what not to do”（economia）

“A firm's system of quality control should reasonably assure that personnel with the right skills and experience are assigned to public company audits,” said PCAOB chairman James Doty.

“When quality controls concerning personnel assignment and oversight fail, serious violations of auditing standards can result, as they did here, to the detriment of investors.

“Effectively designed and operated quality control systems are crucial to conducting audits in compliance with PCAOB standards. This matter should serve as a case study for what not to do.”

PCAOBのプレスリリース。

PCAOB Announces $1.5 Million Settlement with Grant Thornton for Quality Control Violations and Audit Failures