Marcum agreed to pay $13 million in penalties between settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced Wednesday addressing allegations of widespread quality control and supervision failures stemming from the audit firm’s significant work with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) clients.
The SEC fined Marcum $10 million, while the PCAOB added a $3 million penalty—its largest ever imposed against an audit firm that is not a member of a global network. The PCAOB, which is overseen by the SEC, will require Marcum to make functional changes to its supervisory structure related to its system of quality control—a first for the regulator.
