One of Canada’s Big Four auditing firms continues to have a significant number of problems in its work, the national industry regulator has found.
“The level of significant inspection findings at one firm indicates that certain controls at this firm may not be designed appropriately or operating effectively,” CPAB says in its report. While CPAB reports statistics in groups, by audit-firm size, it does not disclose inspection findings by firm. However, CPAB released a proposal in September, after a lengthy public consultation, to begin revealing the firm-specific results.
“We are working to resolve this matter through discussions, legal analysis and considerations of alternative approaches,” CPAB wrote in its recommendations document. “CPAB’s objective is to have a uniform approach across all of the provinces and territories in Canada. However, differences in provincial legal frameworks may result in some differences in our approach across Canada.”
In September, 2021, CPAB and U.S. regulators also disciplined Deloitte’s Canadian firm after its employees falsified the date and time stamps on work papers for 29 different audits from 2016 to 2018 by changing the settings on their computers to a different date.