backOn February 25, 2025, the PCAOB announced a settled disciplinary order against Kesselman & Kesselman CPAs (“PwC Israel”) after the Firm failed to “detect or prevent extensive, improper answer sharing on tests for mandatory internal training courses” between 2017 and 2022.
Without admitting or denying the Board’s findings, the Firm agreed to pay a $2.75 million civil money penalty, was censured by the PCAOB, and is required (i) to review and improve its quality control policies and procedures to provide reasonable assurance that its personnel act with integrity in connection with internal training and (ii) to report to the PCAOB that it has done so within 150 days.
In ordering sanctions, the PCAOB considered PwC Israel’s “extraordinary cooperation” with the investigation. The Firm provided the results of its internal investigation and information regarding its interviews of the suspected personnel to the staff. It also engaged in self-remediation by, among other things, transitioning to classroom assessments with proctors, issuing warnings to new employees that answer sharing is prohibited, and disciplining Firm personnel who engaged in improper answer sharing. According to the Order, “[a]bsent this extraordinary cooperation, the civil money penalty imposed would have been significantly larger, and the Board may have imposed additional sanctions.”
Since 2021, the PCAOB has sanctioned 10 registered firms for inappropriate sharing of answers on internal training exams.
See the Order here.