SPAC Audit Slip Ups Trip Marcum, Withum in Annual Inspections

Accounting errors with blank-check companies fueled audit shortcomings at Marcum LLP and WithumSmith+Brown PC in the two firms’ latest US audit regulator inspections.

Inspectors with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found deficiencies in 15 of the 25 audits it examined from New York-based Marcum LLP and 13 of the 17 audits it inspected from WithumSmith+Brown PC of Princeton, NJ, the PCAOB said in reports released Monday.

The audits were performed in 2021, when special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, became Wall Street’s hottest way for private companies to make a quick listing on a public market. Marcum ...