backOn December 18, 2025, the PCAOB announced a settled disciplinary order against Jennifer A. Crofoot, CPA for authorizing the issuance of four audit reports despite failing to perform sufficient work and failing to obtain approval from an engagement quality reviewer on each engagement. The Board also settled with Crofoot’s former audit firm, Fruci & Associates II, PLLC (“the Firm”), for violations of PCAOB quality control standards.
According to the Board, for all four audits, Crofoot failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence in violation of AS 1105, failed to exercise due professional care and professional skepticism in violation of AS 1015, and failed to assemble a complete and final set of audit documentation by the documentation completion dates in violation of AS 1215. Moreover, Crofoot made improper alterations to one audit file after being notified that the audit was selected for PCAOB inspection. Upon learning that certain audit work had not been performed, the Firm self-reported to the PCAOB Division of Registration and Inspections. The Firm was charged with QC violations for failing to implement sufficient policies and procedures to provide reasonable assurance that engagement personnel would comply with audit documentation requirements and that an engagement quality review would be performed on all engagements.
Crofoot was censured, barred from being an associated person of a registered public accounting firm for three years, and required to complete 40 hours of CPE prior to filing a petition for Board consent to reassociate with a registered firm. The order noted that the Board would have imposed a civil money penalty of $50,000 on Crofoot, but did not impose a penalty because of her financial resources. The order against the Firm imposed a censure, a $50,000 penalty, and required the Firm to undertake remedial actions. The Board took into account the Firm’s extraordinary cooperation and the substantial assistance it provided to the Division of Enforcement and Investigations, including its timely self-reporting and its investigation to determine whether any additional audits were issued without all procedures being performed.