Last month, our professional services industry has been drawn into the limelight for the wrong reasons, when the Thai SEC announced that it is revoking approval of and is filing a criminal complaint against an executive director and a senior executive of KPMG, who is a financial advisor supervisor approved by the SEC. This reputation damaging news for KPMG is the result of the actions of one KPMG individual in connection with an insider trading investigation led by the Thai SEC.
The individual had prepared and submitted incomplete and inaccurate information related to the investigation and had conveyed false statement to the SEC, affecting the inquiry into the violation under investigation and thus obstructing law enforcement against the violators. As the SEC put it, this is a “failure to perform the duties as professionals with prudence, due care, knowledge, capability and experience”. Additionally the Thai SEC also reprimanded KPMG's management and monitoring personnel systems, saying that they did not comply with professional standards.
This is a reminder that the action of an individual impacts brand names and could easily tarnish and even destroy the hard work and efforts put in to build a good reputation of the firm’s brand as well as your personal brand. As professional service providers, we are obliged to comply with all applicable professional standards and abide by applicable rules and regulations. We have a responsibility not only towards our clients but we also have a responsibility towards our society to behave professionally, with honesty and integrity and to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Best regards,
Ong Bee Yen Somroek Krishnamra
Deloitte SEA Chief Ethics Officer Thailand Ethics Officer