A partner at consultancy KPMG has been fined for using artificial intelligence to commit fraud during an internal training course on AI.
The unnamed partner was fined A$10,000 (£5,200) for using the technology to commit fraud, having reportedly been one of several employees using this tactic.
More than two dozen KPMG Australia employees have been caught using AI tools to cheat on internal exams since July, the company said, raising concerns over AI-fueled fraud at accountancy firms.
The consultancy used its own AI detection tool to detect the fraud, according to the Australian Finance Review, which first reported on it.
The Big Four accountancy firms have been hit by fraud scandals in recent years. KPMG Australia in 2021 was Fined Fined $615,000 over “widespread” misconduct, finding that more than 1,100 participants engaged in “inappropriate answer-sharing” on tests designed to assess skill and integrity.
But AI tools have introduced new possibilities for breaking the rules. In December, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the UK’s largest accounting body, said accounting students would have to take exams in person because it was too difficult to prevent AI fraud otherwise.
ACCA chief executive Helen Brand said at the time that AI tools had led to a “tipping point” as their use was outpacing the association’s safeguards against fraud.
Companies like KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have also been Mandatory their Employee Using AI at work, reportedly in an effort to increase profits and cut costs.
KPMG partners will reportedly be assessed on their ability to use AI tools during their 2026 performance ReviewNiale Cleobury, head of the firm’s global AI workforce, said: “We all have a responsibility to bring AI into everything we do.”
Some commenters on LinkedIn noted the irony of using AI to cheat in AI training. KPMG is “fighting AI adoption rather than redesigning the way we train people. This is not a cheating problem – if we look at the new world order. This is a training problem,” wrote Ivo Szapar is the creator of a platform that ranks the “AI maturity” of organizations.
KPMG said it has adopted measures to identify the use of AI by its employees and will keep track of how many of its employees misused the technology.
Andrew Yates, chief executive of KPMG Australia, said: “Like most organisations, we are grappling with the role and use of AI as it relates to internal training and testing. It’s a very difficult thing to top given how quickly society has adopted it.
“Given the everyday use of these tools, some people violate our policy. We take it seriously when they do. We are also looking at ways to strengthen our approach to the current self-reporting system.”
