A partner at consultancy KPMG has been fined for cheating using artificial intelligence during an in-house training course on AI.
The unnamed partner, who was fined A$10,000 (£5,200) for using the technology to commit fraud, was one of a number of staff members said to have used the tactic.
The company said that since July, more than 20 KPMG Australia staff have been caught using AI tools to cheat on internal exams, raising concerns about fraud using AI at accounting firms.
The Australian Finance Review, which first reported the matter, said the consultancy used its own AI detection tools to spot fraud.
The Big Four accounting firms have grappled with fraud scandals in recent years. In 2021, KPMG Australia was fined A$615,000 for “widespread” misconduct after more than 1,100 partners were found to have engaged in “inappropriate response sharing” on a test designed to assess skills and integrity.
But AI tools have introduced new possibilities for breaking the rules. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the UK’s largest accounting body, announced in December that it would require accounting students to sit an in-person exam. Otherwise, it would be too difficult to prevent AI from misbehaving.
ACCA chief executive Helen Brand said at the time that AI tools were at a “tipping point”, with their use outpacing the fraud safeguards the association had put in place.
Companies such as KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers are also reportedly requiring their employees to use AI in the workplace in order to increase profits and reduce costs.
KPMG partners will reportedly be assessed on their ability to use AI tools in their 2026 performance review, with Niale Cleoberry, the firm’s global AI workforce lead, saying, “We all have a responsibility to bring AI into everything we do.”
Some commenters on LinkedIn pointed out the irony of using AI to cheat in AI training. KPMG is “fighting AI adoption rather than redesigning the way we develop talent. This is not a fraud issue — in the eyes of the new world order, this is a development issue,” wrote Iwo Zaper, creator of a platform that ranks organizations on their “AI maturity.”
KPMG said it is taking steps to identify the use of AI by its employees and will track how many employees misuse the technology.
KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates said: “Like most organizations, we have grappled with the role and use of AI in relation to internal training and testing. Given the rapid acceptance of AI by society, this has been a very difficult journey to overcome.”
“Given the routine use of these tools, some people may violate our policies. When they do, we take them seriously. We are also looking at ways to strengthen our approach within the current self-reporting system.”
