{"id":203686,"date":"2017-10-09T09:52:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T07:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=203686"},"modified":"2017-10-09T13:16:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T11:16:42","slug":"telkom-puts-kpmg-on-hold-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/203686\/telkom-puts-kpmg-on-hold-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Telkom puts KPMG on hold – report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Listed telecoms group Telkom has joined a growing list\u00a0of companies that have decided to temporarily cut ties with auditing firm\u00a0KPMG, according to Business Report.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg reported last week that consumer goods firm, AVI, would stop using KPMG as an external auditor after it admitted to falling short of its own standards when doing work for the politically connected Gupta family.<\/p>\n

AVI, Bloomberg said, becomes one of the largest South African companies to drop KPMG after Munich Re of Africa, Sasfin Holdings, Sygnia Asset Management and Hulisani also announced they would stop using the firm\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s biggest banks and largest insurer are also reviewing their continued use of KPMG.<\/p>\n

An e-mail sent to Business\u00a0Report by an internal source\u00a0at Telkom said the firm has taken note of the allegations “against organisations\u00a0offering services to\u00a0Telkom”.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have engaged with our\u00a0Telkom Group Board Audit\u00a0Committee on this matter and\u00a0the audit committee has decided\u00a0that the Telkom Group will not\u00a0award any new business to\u00a0KPMG SA until the investigation\u00a0by the Independent Regulatory\u00a0Board for Auditors (Irba)\u00a0has been concluded.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the chairperson\u00a0of KPMG International has\u00a0announced that the company\u00a0will be launching its own\u00a0independent investigation\u00a0into the work conducted by\u00a0KPMG SA, Telkom took note\u00a0of the intent of the investigation\u00a0to address the allegations,\u00a0enhance business transparency\u00a0and rebuild trust with South\u00a0Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe emphasise that the decision\u00a0to withhold any further\u00a0awarding of business to KPMG\u00a0SA is subject to the outcome of\u00a0the final investigation report by\u00a0the Irba.\u201d<\/p>\n

The e-mail leaked to Business\u00a0Report was distributed\u00a0to Telkom employees from\u00a0the group chief risk and\u00a0compliance officer, Tsholofelo\u00a0Molefe.<\/p>\n

KPMG International said last month that the local business will face an independent inquiry after an internal investigation into the work done for companies associated with the Guptas.<\/p>\n

Eight senior executives quit in the wake of the findings even though KPMG didn\u2019t find evidence of illegal behavior or corruption.<\/p>\n

The internal probe also resulted in KPMG South Africa withdrawing the findings of a report about a so-called rogue unit at the Revenue Service.<\/p>\n

The firm is being probed by the country\u2019s regulatory body for auditors and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants for the work it did for the Revenue Service and the Gupta family, who have been accused of using their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to wield undue influence over state contracts and cabinet appointments, Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n

The Guptas and Zuma have denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Telkom said it issued a statement to staff in which it said, it has not terminated relations with KPMG.<\/p>\n

“We will not grant KPMG any new contracts until the investigation by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) is concluded and we will determine a way forward. All existing contracts and work currently being undertaken will continue until their expiry date, Telkom said.<\/p>\n

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Read: \u2018Golden handshakes\u2019 for ousted KPMG South Africa executives<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listed telecoms group Telkom has joined a growing list of companies that have decided to temporarily cut ties with auditing firm KPMG, according to Business Report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":90052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1458,65],"class_list":["post-203686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-kpmg","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203686"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203798,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203686\/revisions\/203798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}