The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published an inspection report on PricewaterhouseCoopers AS, concluding that the firm’s cyclical internal inspections of completed audit engagements were not sufficiently extensive for its size and complexity and that multiple audits contained breaches of the Norwegian Auditor Act and applicable EU audit regulation requirements. The most serious findings relate to the audit of a public interest entity, alongside deficiencies identified in several other engagements. The review covered the firm’s quality management and selected audits, including auditor independence, resourcing, audit fees, sustainability assurance routines and compliance with anti-money laundering obligations. The Authority noted that the firm audits around 130 public interest entities but, in the 2024 internal quality review cycle, inspected 25 engagements in total, including five public interest entities, with around five percent of public interest entity audits reviewed annually in each of the past five years and a minority reviewed over the past seven years. It also found indications the internal quality reviews were not sufficiently robust because statutory breaches were not detected in audits rated “approved”, including in a public interest entity engagement where the Authority identified shortcomings in continuance documentation, missing required disclosures in the additional report to the audit committee, eight non-audit service deliveries to a parent company without prior audit committee approval, and insufficient audit evidence and professional scepticism in the audit of goodwill impairment, deferred tax assets and subsidiary valuations. Separate findings covered inadequate engagement acceptance and escalation to the board at another audited entity, failure to report a real estate broker’s negative capital situation to the Authority as required, and insufficient audit work on deferred tax assets in two further engagements. The Authority indicated it will follow up the scope and execution of PricewaterhouseCoopers AS’s cyclical engagement inspections through future supervisory activity.
Norwegian Finanstilsynet 2026-03-27
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway flags Auditor Act breaches and weak internal quality reviews at PricewaterhouseCoopers AS
The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published an inspection report on PricewaterhouseCoopers AS, finding that the firm’s cyclical internal inspections were not sufficiently extensive for its size and complexity and that multiple audits breached the Norwegian Auditor Act and EU audit regulation requirements. The most serious deficiencies related to a public interest entity audit, including undetected statutory breaches in engagements rated “approved”, shortcomings in continuance documentation and audit committee reporting, unapproved non-audit services, and insufficient audit evidence and professional scepticism.