International accounting

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was fined 5.1 million pounds ($6.6 million) for misconduct over its audit of RSM Tenon Group Plc in the largest-ever sanction issued by the U.K. accounting regulator.

Three international standard-setting boards for auditing, accounting ethics and accounting education issued a new publication Monday in the hopes of making accountants and auditors more skeptical of management assertions.

The United Nations Academic Impact and MLOW provide an example to follow.

Extensible Business Reporting Language, the data-tagging code now required by the Securities and Exchange Commission for filing financial statements, has been making headway not only in the U.S., but in other parts of the world.

CPA Ireland is absorbing the membership of the Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants as two of Ireland’s largest accounting professional bodies agreed to a permanent collaboration.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is disciplining Crowe Horwath’s member firm in Hong Kong for refusing to turn over audit work papers.

A group of 16 House Democrats has sent a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board asking it to require multinational companies to disclose more country-by-country reporting information in their public financial statements about where they pay taxes and book profits.

Starting last month, audit firms must now disclose the names and locations of other auditors participating over a certain percentage of the audit of public companies.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants reported a 5.5 percent increase in membership over the past year as it faces renewed competition from the AICPA.

Moses Kgosana, who withdrew from taking the post as chairman of Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Ltd. in the wake of allegations related to his tenure as chief executive officer and senior partner at KPMG South Africa, said he offered to step aside from the position.

Moses Kgosana, who was due to take the role of Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Ltd. chairman at the end of August, withdrew from the position after allegations emerged related to his tenure as chief executive officer and senior partner at KPMG South Africa.

The U.K. Financial Reporting Council opened an investigation into PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s audits of BT Group Plc over three years following an accounting scandal in the carrier’s Italian unit that led to a writedown of 530 million pounds ($687 million).

KPMG South Africa failed to raise the issue when businesses controlled by the Gupta family—friends of President Jacob Zuma—diverted the equivalent of $3.3 million of public money to pay for a family wedding and their auditing firm, documents show.

International organizations are the ERP platform provider's fastest growing customer base.

The lobbying group for Hollywood’s top studios is auditing China’s box-office figures amid concern that ticket sales have been reported inaccurately, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The French company that claims to hold the trademarks of the former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Co. sent Accounting Today a copy Friday of the lawsuit it filed against Andersen Tax over the rights to the Andersen brand, alleging the use of forged documents and an attempt to obtain court rulings using forgeries.

Already reeling from a $4.5 billion bill to save its ailing No. 1 lender, Ukraine is now bracing for an even costlier rescue, and says audits by PwC’s local office were instrumental in the bank’s failure.

Proxy adviser Glass Lewis & Co. blasted Toshiba Corp.’s board for poor governance amid repeated scandals and recommended investors vote against all directors at the company’s shareholders meeting later this month.

The French firm that has taken the Arthur Andersen & Co. name is suing Andersen Tax LLC, accusing it of forgery and other crimes, as the battle over the Andersen name heats up.

A Grant Thornton firm in the West Indies has merged in a former BDO firm to expand its presence in the Caribbean.