The US accountancy sector regulator has asked several Dutch accountants offices to carry out extra research into cheating during the compulsory exams which all accountants have to take, the Financieele Dagblad said on Thursday.

The move makes it more likely that Dutch firms could face fines or sanctions in the US, the paper said. 

The six biggest accountants’ offices in the Netherlands have been researching potential fraud for over a year. The scandal broke in July last year when it emerged at least 500 workers at KPMG in the Netherlands had cheated during the compulsory exams that accountants are required to take.

KPMG said at the time it had imposed sanctions on an unknown number of employees, and “a handful” had been fired following an internal investigation into  claims that staff had swapped answers to the tests.

That incident led financial regulator AFM to order all the big accountancy firms to carry out an internal investigation into possible cheating. In October, Deloitte Nederland said some of its workers too had been swapping answers. 

EY, PwC, Mazars and BDO are also investigating the situation at their practices but have not yet said anything about their findings.  

The AFM investigation focused on the period 2017 to 2022 but sources told the FD that does not go far enough for the US authority, or Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). It, together with the AFM, has ordered the firms to also look into cheating in 2023.

The US watchdog told Dutch News in a statement: “The PCAOB cannot comment on ongoing inspection or enforcement matters, including whether or not they have been initiated. We carefully monitor registered firms and will not hesitate to take action when rules are violated.”