A former KPMG partner involved in the audit of Xerox Corp. has accepted a one-year ban on auditing public companies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Joseph Boyle, 62, settled charges that he failed to tell the Xerox audit committee about accounting improprieties or take appropriate steps after company management didn't correct the violations. Boyle settled without either admitting or denying wrongdoing, according to the SEC.
Boyle was the relationship partner for the Xerox audit from 1999 through 2000. He can reapply to practice as a certified accountant before the SEC after one year.
In April, KPMG agreed to pay $22 million to settle charges brought by the SEC in connection with its audits of Xerox from 1997 through 2000. The firm didn't admit wrongdoing, but the SEC said that accounting fraud began at Xerox in 1997, eventually allowing the company to overstate its financial results by $1.5 billion over four years.
