By Mark Maurer
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board on Tuesday said it fined accounting firm Warren Averett $200,000 for violating auditor-independence rules in two company audits.
Warren Averett didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The firm, as part of 2019 and 2020 audits, audited valuations performed for an unnamed client by another accounting firm that sponsored an alliance of which Warren Averett was a member, the PCAOB said.
Both Warren Averett and the client shared a mutual interest in the reasonableness of the valuations, thus posing a violation of auditor independence, the U.S. auditing watchdog said.
The firm, which didn’t admit or deny the claims, also failed to implement adequate policies and procedures to ensure that its personnel would comply with the rules, the PCAOB said.
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