Amid the ongoing KPMG audit scandal, a former whistleblower has questioned the lack of proportionate repercussions for wrongdoing in accounting firms.
Pav Gill has come into the spotlight as the whistleblower who exposed Germany-headquartered payment processing company Wirecard’s multibillion fraud that ultimately led to the company’s collapse in 2020.
Gill was head of the legal department for Asia-Pacific at Wirecard and is now the founder and chief executive of whistleblowing software The Confide Platform, a tool that streamlines reporting and management of corporate misconduct.
Speaking to Accounting Times in the wake of the KPMG audit scandal and its treatment of the whistleblower who alleged misconduct in the audit department, Gill said the audit profession is riddled with issues “as a whole”.
Specifically, he voiced concerns about the lack of sanctions or repercussions for misconduct or wrongdoing in general, whether it is a failed audit or mishandling of internal whistleblowing.
“I don’t see repercussions that are proportionate to the damage,” he said.
“Even if you look at Wirecard, where EY Germany was the auditor, some auditors surrendered their licenses, and the proceedings against them ended. EY itself and five individual auditors were sanctioned, but were the consequences proportionate to the scale of the failure? If you can prove bad faith or serious misconduct, there must be real accountability.”
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