The SEC has reinstated CPA Benedict P. Rybicki, who has been a director at Doeren Mayhew since 1998. Although Rybicki had been suspended from practicing before the agency for only a year, he had not sought reinstatement since the SEC took its action on Aug. 5, 2004 over his role as sole engagement manager in the audit of MCA Financial Corp's. 1998 financial statements. The audit was performed jointly by Doeren Mayhew and Grant Thornton.
The SEC's original finding was that Rybicki "recklessly engaged in conduct that resulted in violations of professional standards and recklessly failed to follow applicable auditing standards in the areas of mortgages and land contracts held for resale and related party transactions." The agency also found that the CPA failed "to assure that MCA’s audit committee or board of directors were adequately informed of suspected illegal acts that were detected in the course of the audit."
In the original action, Grant Thornton paid a $1.5 million penalty and was not only censured, but required to retrain its entire professional staff in fraud detection and spent at least $1 million in that effort. It was also barred from joint audits for five It also paid disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $59,749.41.
Doeren Mayhew stopped performing audits of publicly held companies at that time. It was also censured and paid $115,126.86 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
