Trade union Cosatu has come out swinging after auditor KPMG and the liquidator of VBS Mutual Bank reached an out-of-court settlement cloaked in secrecy.
<h2>Introduction – The Impact of Other Auditors in a Global Audit</h2>
<p>The increasing integration of world economies and the resultant globalization of multinational public companies has led to increased use of, and more significant roles for, accounting firms and individual accountants other than the lead auditor (“other auditors”) on many issuer audit engagements. In 2021, for example, 26 percent of all issuer audit engagements and 57 percent of large accelerated filer audits involved the use of other auditors by the lead auditor. In some cases, engagements include the use of other auditors that may not even be registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) and that work in countries with different business cultures and languages from those of the lead auditor.</p>
The PCAOB gave KPMG of the South African variety a slap on the wrist and punished a couple of partners today for the firm collaborating with an accounting firm not registered with the PCAOB (KPMG Zimbabwe) on three years’ worth of audits of a public company.