March 11, 2019

Having been charged in January, 2018, the former national managing partner for audit quality at firm KPMG LLP, David Middendorf, was convicted after trial for scheming to acquire and use information from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) about which KPMG audits the PCAOB would be reviewing in the upcoming year. The PCAOB, which is overseen by the SEC, inspects the largest U.S. accounting firms on an annual basis, choosing a subset of the firm’s audits for close inspection. Middendorf and others at KPMG conspired with PCAOB employees including co-defendant Jeffrey Wada, to obtain PCAOB’s plans for inspections of KPMG audits, enabling KPMG to analyze and revise audit workpapers in an effort to improve KPMG’s performance in PCAOB inspections. USAO SDNY

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Criminal Proceedings, Securities Fraud,