The Public Accounting Oversight Board wielded its powers over individual practitioners in 2010 when it barred two CPAs from representing companies that were registered with the organization. One ban went into effect after the practitioner appealed the decision to the SEC. The other was official in December when the disciplined accountant did not protest the PCAOB's action.In October, the PCAOB banned Larry O'Donnell of Larry O'Donnell CPA, based in Aurora, Colo., from association with any registered firm and revoked his registration with the board. O'Donnell was also ordered to pay a civil penalty of $75,000. Those actions went into effect on December 14 after O'Donnell did not appeal the sanctions.
O'Donnell drew the disciplinary actions after in December 2009 he informed the PCAOB that Lawrence Scharfman had possibly become associated with his firm. Scharfman had been barred from associating with a registered firm in December that year. O'Donnell reported he paid Scharfman about half the audit fees involved in taking over the other accountant's clients but that Scharfman was not consulted on any audit.
The PCAOB, which never alleged Scharfman had become associated with O'Donnell, requested documents regarding engagements involving Scharfman's clients. The requested documents included any checks, invoices or agreements involving those clients. O'Donnell drew the disciplinary action after his firm failed to produce any of the documents despite repeated requests.
The other action taken against James Gately of Gately & Associates was more highly publicized after Gately appealed his ban to the SEC and that body upheld the PCAOB action. Gately was barred from associating with a registered firm and the registration of his firm was revoked in October, after he lost the appeal.
Gately, now based in Miami, operated in Altamonte Spring, Fla., when in 2004 the PCAOB registered information in preparation for inspection. That process dragged on as Gately, who was involved in treatment for alcohol dependency, blamed his inability to provide records on his probation for a traffic-related offense which kept him from going to his former office, a house firm that destroyed records and a request he didn't receive because it was sent to a former address.
A PCOB report citing deficiencies in Gately's audit procedures, including questions about quality control was made public in 2006 after he failed to correct them. The SEC began requesting information in advance of an inspection after that, eventually leading to its action.
