On May 18, 2020, the SEC entered into settlement agreements with three former partners of an independent public accounting firm (Firm) in connection with the partners’ conduct involving improperly receiving and sharing information about internal continuing professional education exams conducted by the Firm. The former partners participated in soliciting or sharing questions and answers from internal examinations on continuing professional education courses that the Firm periodically required its auditors to complete. After learning about a related internal Firm investigation and receiving an internal document preservation order, some of the former partners also deleted evidence of their misconduct. As a result, the former partners were charged with, among other things, violating Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ethical standards and were barred from appearing or practicing before the SEC as accountants. The SEC previously entered into a settlement agreement with the Firm in 2019 in connection with violations involving this and other exam sharing misconduct described in this order: Click Here
The settled actions against the former partners are available at the links below: