The SEC has banned BF Borgers from audit work for what the agency called “deliberate and systemic” failures to conduct hundreds of audits according to standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
BF Borgers of Lakewood, Colo.and its sole proprietor, Benjamin F. Borgers CPA were also fined--$12 million for the firm and $2 million for Benjamin Borgers
Many media organizations reported the action as one of the clients was the Trump Media & Technology Group. However, no firms, including Trump Media, were listed in the SEC action by name or were the subject of any investigation.
Instead, the SEC said that in 2,175 SEC on OTC Market Filings for 369 clients from January 2021 to June 2023, the firm did not provide any engagement quality reviews.
According to the SEC, Borgers failed to conduct audit planning meetings or review workpapers and generallyl completed new workpapers by copying old ones and inserting new dates. Moreover, Borger gave staff members users names to give the appearance of sign offs by different individuals when only one person was involved. Finally, while Borger said client emails were the only record of the audits, they
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind