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1895 points _l4jh | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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bogomipz ◴[] No.16729876[source]
>"And we wanted to put our money where our mouth was, so we committed to retaining KPMG, the well-respected auditing firm, to audit our code and practices annually and publish a public report confirming we're doing what we said we would."

It's worth pointing out that KPMG was Wells Fargo's independent auditor while the bank recently committed fraud on a massive scale by creating more than a million fake deposit accounts and 560,000 credit card applications for customers without their knowledge or approval.[1]

Calling KPMG a "well-respected auditing firm" when they failed to detect over a million fake bank accounts is a joke. See:

https://www.reuters.com/article/wells-fargo-kpmg/lawmakers-q...

[1] https://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/2016-10-27_Ltr...

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buyx ◴[] No.16730271[source]
KPMG was also implicated in the massive South African "state capture" scandal involving the (now fugitive) Gupta family and former president Jacob Zuma.

Among other things, KPMG issued a-later withdrawn-report that was used to undermine the well-respected finance minister, so that a more malleable person could be installed, while also auditing the Guptas during their worst excesses.

Lest we choose to dismiss this as crimes in an insignificant country, KPMG SA has been part of the worldwide group since the 70's, and South Africa's supposedly high auditing standards were a source of national pride.

The story seems to have gone dead after some senior leaders fell on their swords, but six months ago, there was serious talk about the firm being shut down in South Africa.

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1. sizzle ◴[] No.16730397[source]
Sounds interesting, got any sources for further reading?
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2. mmsimanga ◴[] No.16730841[source]
Two links should give you a summary of the issues. I worked one of the biggest retailers in South Africa until a month ago. We dropped KPMG as our auditors because of all the unethical issues relating to them. https://mg.co.za/article/2017-09-15-gordhan-weighs-in-on-kpm... And https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-11-op-ed-the...
3. buyx ◴[] No.16731341[source]
FT had a lot of coverage, if you're looking for a non-South African source (linking behind the paywall is probably not going to work, but you can Google for it).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-22/kpmg-unde...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/09/15/kpmg-south-a...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kpmg-safrica/kpmgs-south-...

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41283462

It's also been extensively covered in the South African media.