KPMG is living that #REF! life, racking up its 16th fine for auditing failures since 2018. This time it’s for the accounts of famous UK ad agency M&C Saatchi. Not the sort of thing you’d want to put on a billboard.

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KPMG fined almost $2 million for audit “serious failings”

The UK accountancy regulator has fined KPMG £1.5 million ($1.9 million) for “serious failings” in its audit of M&C Saatchi ($), the ad agency hit by an accounting scandal in 2019. 

The fine relates to KPMG’s review of M&C Saatchi’s accounts for the year to December 2018, which led the business to overstate its profits by £14 million for several years, among other things. The partner responsible for the audit was also fined nearly £50,000.

The penalty is the 16th fine KPMG has had since 2018. Last year it received a record £21 million penalty for failures in its auditing of collapsed government contractor Carillion.

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