SC imposes ban, fine on auditors for failing to meet audit standards

The Securities Commission (SC) said in a statement that it had won the insider trading case against Chan after the High Court ruled that the capital market regulator had successfully proven the case.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission has imposed a 12-month ban on McMillan Woods Mea and two of its partners from accepting clients and auditing any public interest entities.

In a statement, the SC said its audit oversight board (AOB) had also fined the firm and one of the partners, Mea Fatt Leong, RM123,000 and RM44,000 respectively.

The ban and fine were due to the failure of the parties to comply with the International Standard on Quality Control and relevant International Standards on Auditing when auditing the financial statements of a public listed company for the financial year ended 31 December 2016.

"The AOB noted numerous instances of non-compliances with the auditing standards which included non-performance of fundamental audit procedures which affected certain key audit areas. 

"The AOB also noted that training was not provided to audit staff on recent changes to auditing standards and that outdated audit work programs were used for audit engagements," it said.

The SC said it had dismissed an appeal by the firm and Mea against the prohibition and quantum of monetary penalty.