Third Dutch accountancy firm reports possible exam fraud among employees

The Dutch branch of the international accounting firm Mazars has received two reports from whistleblowers about possible exam fraud among its employees in the past financial year, the company said in its annual report on Monday. Mazars is the third accounting firm in the Netherlands plagued by possible exam fraud, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

Mazars said it was conducting an internal investigation led by one of its commissioners and is in close contact with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). The office said that “without a doubt, misconduct in exams is inconsistent with the values of Mazars and the integrity of its professionals.”

The exam fraud concerns the sharing of answers on partly mandatory tests that accountants have to take to keep their accreditation. KPMG announced in December 2022 that it received internal reports of possible misconduct with exams among its employees. At Deloitte, responsible director Rob Bergmans resigned last year due to exam fraud, but the office has made no announcements about the outcome of its internal investigations.

The AFM also asked EY, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and BDO to conduct internal investigations into exam fraud. They haven’t published any findings yet. The American regulator PCAOB is also involved in several investigations. American law allows the regulator to fine accountants in other countries that audit the books of companies listed in the U.S. The Americans’ involvement is one of the reasons why the investigations into exam fraud are taking so long, according to FD.

Last week, the AFM also reported that Dutch accountants were not assessing each other’s work well enough. It investigated 21 accountancy offices and found that the quality of controls is lacking when an independent accountant reviews the work of an external accountant.

Mazars reported on Monday that it had a good year financially. Its turnover in the Netherlands rose by 11 percent to 153.5 million euros. Almost a third of that amount was earned from audits and the rest from tax advice and other consultancy services. The company recorded 29.3 million euros in profit, divided among Mazars’ 60 partners, who collected an average of 488,000 euros.