Capital Markets & Securities Law Watch

On May 3, 2024, the SEC announced charges against audit firm BF Borgers CPA PC and its owner, Benjamin F. Borgers, of deliberate and systemic failures to comply with PCAOB standards in its audits and reviews incorporated in over 1,500 SEC filings from January 2021 through June 2023, in what the SEC called “one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets.” In this post, we review the SEC’s order and the SEC staff’s statement regarding the disclosure and reporting obligations of impacted issuers.

On February 5, 2024, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chief Accountant Paul Munter issued a statement calling for increased quality of public company audits. Munter’s statement follows findings from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) of increased deficiency rates in recent year-over-year inspections, and alludes to new and existing risks that “may put pressure on the operations and financial health of companies and render financial reporting and auditing more challenging.”