A KPMG Australia partner has been fined more than A$10,000 (US$7,000) for misusing AI tools during an internal course about AI, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported.
The unnamed partner was asked to redo the test.
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The big four accounting practice has also identified 28 cases where staff used AI for internal exams since July.
This follows the introduction by KPMG of stronger monitoring tools to detect AI misuse in testing, building on earlier measures brought in after widespread cheating on internal assessments between 2016 and 2020.
KPMG plans to separately report AI-related cheating cases in its annual results.
This will add to its existing misconduct disclosures and is expected to create a higher bar for transparency across major professional services companies.
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By GlobalDataThe company also intends to verify that staff have complied with their duty to self-report misconduct to their professional bodies.
These developments come as KPMG generates a growing share of its (A$57bn) global revenue from AI-related advisory work.
“Like most organisations, we have been grappling with the role and use of AI as it relates to internal training and testing,” KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates told the AFR. “It is a very hard thing to get on top of, given how quickly society has embraced it.”
The partner involved in the misuse is also a registered company auditor. The person completed AI training in July.
The course advised participants to download a reference manual linked to the training.
However, the partner breached KPMG’s rules by uploading that reference document into an AI tool to answer an exam question. Internal monitoring detected the activity in August.
Following an internal investigation, KPMG decided the partner should be fined more than $10,000 of future income.
The individual subsequently self-reported to Chartered Accountants ANZ, which is now examining the case.
The remaining 27 incidents relate to staff at manager level or below. KPMG added that it voluntarily raised the issue with Australian Securities and Investments Commission as part of its ongoing engagement with the regulator.
Last year, Deloitte Australia agreed to refund the government after AI-generated errors were identified in a report.
