McDermott, Will & Emery LLP recently issued the following announcement.
Please join McDermott and Grant Thornton on Thursday, May 28, for a webinar training on anti-corruption and compliance. This training will discuss the auditing standards on illegal acts by clients and the auditor’s responsibilities under US federal law related to illegal acts. During the training, presenters will discuss the types of information that would trigger consideration of the applicable auditing standards and the auditor’s potential legal responsibility under section 10A of the Securities Exchange Act relating to the identification of potential illegal acts.
After this training, attendees will be able to identify regulatory enforcement trends that auditors should consider and red flags that can indicate to auditors that the risk of corruption or illegal acts is increased. Attendees will also be able to apply strategies designed to promote audit excellence in light of risks of illegal acts in multinational entities.
Overview
This webcast is particularly suitable for overseas auditors working on engagements for US listed companies and their subsidiaries. Presenters will provide illustrations of joint DOJ and SEC enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that imposed billions of dollars in fines and disgorgement on international audit clients, compliance monitors and other sanctions. As illustrated by recent enforcement actions with fines of $1 billion or more, most FCPA actions charge violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions (books and records/internal controls) in addition to or even without violations of the anti-bribery provisions.
Red flags that can surface during the course of an audit from these violations include sham consultancy agreements, slush funds, the use of tax havens, hidden government official ownership of local commission agents, excessive commissions and cash disbursements. The training is designed to sensitize the auditor to the types of information that would trigger consideration of the applicable auditing standards and section 10A of the Securities Exchange Act.
Date: May 28, 2020
Original source can be found here.