KPMG Tried to Fix Audit Problem by Gaming System, Jury Told (1)

KPMG LLP had a problem.

It was 2015, and the accounting firm had scored poorly during inspections by the U.S. regulator that oversees auditors of companies—receiving more than twice the average number of comments its competitors did. As inspection results are often touted and used to attract new clients, KPMG wanted to improve its performance.

It was then that a group of executives made plans to lure employees of the firm’s federal regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, to find out which of its audits would be reviewed, federal prosecutors said Feb. 12 at the start of a trial ...