Oceanteam, a Dutch Norwegian offshore service provider, has suspended KPMG’s services, the company’s auditor in Norway.
In an Oslo Stock Exchange filing on Tuesday, Oceanteam said that the decision to suspend KPMG was made based on Oceanteam’s investigative findings regarding audit costs that were charged for work not performed.
The investigation by an independent consultancy firm also showed that the amounts charged by KPMG compared to audit costs of peer companies in the offshore industry were substantially higher. Despite attempts made to resolve the dispute, to optimize costs and to improve the efficiency of KPMG’s services, no solution could be reached during 2017, Oceanteam noted.
Oceanteam’s board of directors has therefore unanimously resolved to suspend the services of KPMG with immediate effect and has initiated an additional investigation by an independent expert for the fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 to re-evaluate the services and charges made.
The company said it has notified KPMG about the suspension, but continues its effort to resolve the matter in an amicable way.
Oceanteam also added it has reported its decision to suspend the services of KPMG to the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway and is now in the process of filing an official complaint.
Oceanteam consists of two parts, Oceanteam Shipping and Oceanteam Solutions. Oceanteam Shipping owns, charters and manages deep-water offshore support vessels and fast support vessels while Oceanteam Solutions focus is to provide its clients with complete offshore solutions.