Treasury’s soon-to-be released consultation paper – which among things canvasses how to better regulate the big four’s audit divisions – includes consideration of an option to remove from ASIC its powers to punish auditors.
If that happens ASIC chief Joe Longo might find he’ll be granted even fewer resources with which to keep the corporate regulator’s threadbare enforcement capabilities functioning and maybe that’s why on Monday, the last day of financial year 2024/25, the Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board (CADB) produced two significant rulings for public consumption.
These were the first decisions CADB has made public since December last year and both involve that killer of professional credibility iSignthis Limited and two of its victims from Grant Thornton.
No surprise that CADB found it appropriate to strip former partner Brad Taylor of his auditor’s registration.
ASIC brought the application in 2020 in respect of Taylor’s role as engagement partner and lead auditor on the iSignthis financial accounts for 2018.
The disciplinary proceedings were subsequently stayed by a Federal Court order until late 2024 after the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) commenced criminal proceedings against Taylor in the Magistrates Court of Victoria.
In September 2024 those proceedings were then stayed to allow Taylor to pursue what’s known as Diversion, which the Magistrates Court website describes as: “A way for low-level offenders to avoid a criminal record by undertaking conditions that benefit the victim, the community and themselves”.
We are not sure how granting Taylor this generous boon benefits the victim, which in the context of a dodgy audit of an ASX-listed entity is the community’s faith in the integrity of the financial system but we understand how it benefits Taylor, who we are advised recently quit Grant Thornton.
Also punished for his dalliance with iSignthis and its market misleading ways was former audit and assurance partner Simon Trivett, who a Grant Thornton spokeswoman confirmed yesterday remains as a partner of the firm.
Trivett was the review auditor and the engagement quality control reviewer respectively for the audit by Grant Thornton of the financial report of iSignthis Limited and its subsidiaries for the year ended 30 June 2018.
CADB’s ruling comprised an admonishment, a kind of public condemnation of a professional’s integrity.
Trivett was ordered to cop it on the chin and pay ASIC’s costs in the sum of $490,000 within 28 days.
No doubt he’ll will be hoping for a decent bonus.
There’s a wealth of detail about the offences and the penalties imposed which can be sourced at: https://www.cadb.gov.au/decisions/cadb-decisions/
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