Adrian Johnson
TLDR:
- Five current and former Deloitte partners settled allegations of falsifying date and time stamps on audit work papers with CPA Ontario.
- The settlements included fines and investigative costs, with no suspensions, demotions, or terminations reported.
Key Elements:
Ontario’s accounting regulator disciplined five current and former partners at Deloitte LLP for falsifying date and time stamps on audit work papers. The settlement involved fines, investigative costs, and no reported suspensions, demotions, or terminations.
The regulator’s investigation revealed that about 25 Deloitte partners and staff in Ontario changed sign-off dates on audit working papers between November 2016 and May 2018. This backdating was reportedly done to more accurately reflect the date the work was performed but raised concerns about audit integrity.
The settlement agreements with the individuals also detailed Deloitte’s internal disciplinary actions, which included training as part of the disciplinary action. The actions taken by CPA Ontario follow similar settlements with the Canadian Public Accountability Board in 2021 and the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in September 2021.
Overall, the disciplinary actions highlighted the importance of maintaining accurate and timely documentation in accordance with Canadian audit standards to ensure the reliability of an independent auditor’s report.
