The Olympus audit handover between KPMG AZSA
and Ernst & Young ShinNihon (E&Y) was compliant with
auditing guidelines, according to a panel set up by E&Y.
The panel’s findings are at loggerheads with
Olympus-appointed panel that criticised the audit transition of
2009.
E&Y and KPMG ASZA are being investigated
over their Olympus audit work after the camera maker revealed an
¥1.7bn accounting scandal late 2011.
Although offering a clean bill of health on
the handover, E&Y’s panel admitted its investigation was
limited because KPMG ASZA did not wish to take part.
“We have found no problems with the handover
in terms of the guidelines,” Toshifumi Takada, an auditing
professor at Tohoku University and panel member, told the news
agency Reuters. “But we need to make further checks to see
if more should have been done.”
E&Y formed the investigation panel in
December following a damning report by the Olympus-appointed panel,
which said the transition in 2009 was considered as “a mere
formality” and the two auditing firms “did not go so far as to
touch the substantive reasons for such replacement”.
E&Y’s panel is expected to publish a final
report on its investigation in the coming days.
