Oman’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has suspended audit firm KPMG from auditing entities it regulates for one year after uncovering “major financial and accounting irregularities”, it announced on Wednesday.
In a statement, the CMA said the results of an inspection promoted it to “enforce immediate corrective measures in those listed entities to protect investors and other stakeholders.”
“CMA undertook a comprehensive review of the causes that included understanding the reason of the non-discovery and non-reporting of such irregularities by the auditors,” the statement said. “This review established professional negligence on the part of some of the audit firms that warranted disciplinary measures.”
The measure against KPMG does not affect projects to which KPMG has already been appointed. Omani law stipulates that KPMG has a right to appeal the decision.
In a statement sent to Arabian Business, KPMG said it was “cooperating with the CMA during the review of certain audits dated prior to 2015 and the firm is fully committed to cooperating with the CMA to resolve these matters.”
“Audit quality and compliance with professional standards is the highest priority in KPMG. The firm strongly believes that continuously improving audit quality is fundamental to meeting its responsibilities and maintaining public trust,” the statement added.
KPMG has been under increasing public scrutiny after being involved in a highly publicised corruption scandal in South Africa and faces investigations by UK authorities over the auditing of some clients.
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