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Accounting Firm Fined $300,000 by OCC for Lax Standards in Bank Audit

By Matt Squire

Grant Thornton LLP was fined $300,000 for what regulators called reckless conduct in an audit of First National Bank of Keystone, a West Virginia financial institution that collapsed in 1999. The Chicago-based accounting firm failed to verify First National's claims or conduct appropriate tests when reviewing its 1998 financial statements, the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said today in a statement. Grant Thornton said in a statement that it plans to appeal the ruling. Grant Thornton ignored "unequivocal" evidence that about 25 percent of the bank's assets could not be accounted for, the OCC said. Several...

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