Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway imposes NOK 100,000 penalty on auditor for audit engagement acceptance and AML failures

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has published an inspection report and decision imposing a NOK 100,000 administrative penalty on a state-authorised auditor after reviewing the auditor’s acceptance of four audit engagements. The supervisor found breaches of core obligations under the Norwegian Auditor Act in all four engagements and also identified non-compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The sole proprietorship audit firm was established in 2024 and accepted 11 audit engagements that year; Finanstilsynet selected four (A–D) to assess the firm’s acceptance procedures and requested all related documentation and communications, along with material on quality management, risk management and AML compliance. It concluded that all acceptance assessments had serious weaknesses and that the acceptance of engagement A constituted a gross breach of good auditing practice, treating the issues as reflecting deficient understanding and adherence to acceptance requirements rather than isolated errors. On AML, the auditor had not carried out customer due diligence when establishing the client relationships, beyond obtaining identification for the chair of the board, and had not performed client-specific money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments or gathered required information including beneficial ownership. The audit firm stopped providing audit services from 22 September 2025, and the engagement partner has requested to deposit his state-authorised auditor approval; the request will be handled once the supervisory case is closed.