The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has published an inspection report on S.A.M Tax AS finding serious failures in governance and control, particularly in quality management, together with breaches of anti-money laundering requirements. The authority had previously notified the firm that it intended to revoke its approval as an accounting firm, but decided not to adopt that decision after concluding that too much time had passed between the 30 April 2025 supervisory meeting and the 27 January 2026 revocation notice, that the firm had implemented and documented corrective measures in the interim, and that the engagements reviewed did not show material errors in the performance of accounting work. Key findings included the absence of quality management that met legal requirements, insufficient capacity and competence, and broad weaknesses in risk management and internal control. At the time of the inspection the firm had no employees, all accounting work was performed by external persons in Romania and the Philippines, and one contracted state-authorised accountant was responsible for quality management and all 73 engagements. The authority also found anti-money laundering failures, including no business-specific risk assessment, inadequate written procedures, no internal controls for anti-money laundering compliance, insufficient training, weak beneficial owner and politically exposed person checks, and cases where clients flagged as high risk in the firm's tool were downgraded to medium risk without explanation and without enhanced due diligence. It additionally identified incorrect answers in a 2024 self-assessment and weaknesses in the firm's assessment and contractual control of outsourced activities. The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway said a further inspection will be needed to determine whether the remedial measures described by the firm have been implemented and are working as intended. The breaches identified in the 2025 inspection will also be taken into account if future supervisory work uncovers new violations.
Norwegian Finanstilsynet 2026-04-20
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway identifies serious governance and AML breaches at S.A.M Tax AS but does not revoke approval
The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published an inspection report on S.A.M Tax AS identifying serious governance and control failures, including non-compliant quality management, insufficient capacity and competence, and extensive anti-money laundering breaches. The authority decided not to revoke the firm’s accounting approval due to the time elapsed between the supervisory meeting and the revocation notice, remedial measures taken by the firm, and the absence of material errors in reviewed engagements. A further inspection is planned, and the breaches will be considered in future supervisory assessments.