U.S. audit regulators have fined PwC’s affiliate in Mexico for a seemingly brazen failure to observe auditor independence rules.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued a $100,000 civil penalty to PricewaterhouseCoopers S.C. in Mexico over auditor independence rules tied to an unnamed bank. The PCAOB says the firm accepted an engagement with the bank in 2016 without noticing or considering six of its partners had personal financial relationships with the bank, three of whom had prohibited debtor-creditor relationships either with margin loans or mortgages on a second home. The PCAOB says the firm identified the issues a few months after agreeing to the engagement but took two years to unwind the arrangements that compromised independence.
