Big Accounting Firms Bungled 17% of Australia Audits, Asic Says

Four large accounting firms in Australia didn’t perform proper audits in 17 percent of the cases reviewed by the country’s regulator, with smaller firms falling short almost a third of the time.

The firms, which aren’t identified in the report, generally didn’t include sufficient evidence to back the conclusions reached, according to the study, which was carried out between July 1, 2009 and Dec. 31 and was released yesterday by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission.