Caught Copying: Dutch Big Four Firms Fined $8.5M Over Exam Scandal
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Turns out, even partners at the Big Four can get caught cheating. Deloitte, PwC, and EY’s Dutch branches have just been hit with a hefty $8.5 million fine after regulators uncovered rampant answer sharing on internal training exams.
Between 2018 and 2022, hundreds of professionals, even senior ones, were involved in sharing answers on mandatory ethics and audit training. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and Dutch regulators say the firms failed to detect or prevent the misconduct, despite knowing of similar issues at another major global firm.
“Our investigations of these three firms revealed that their quality control systems failed to evaluate appropriately and monitor the risk of improper answer sharing among their personnel...We remain committed to our statutory mission of protecting investors and improving audit quality, and we will hold firms accountable when they fail to comply with PCAOB quality control standards.”
Why This Matters for Us
If global giants can’t keep tabs on training integrity, what’s the risk closer to home? South African firms, especially those managing large teams or using automated learning systems should take this as a wake-up call: internal quality controls must go beyond compliance tick-boxes. In a trust-based profession, cutting corners on training isn’t just unethical, it could land your firm in regulatory hot water and damage public credibility.
Let’s not wait for a scandal to remind us: ethics start inside the firm.
Source: Accounting Today article
