One of the most active venture capitalists has been looking for an auditor since 2021
Date: 2023-07-20 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Investment company Shima Capital faced problems in finding an auditor, writes The Block, citing sources.
The publication claims that attempts to negotiate with several accounting firms of the company, which supports 200 startups, failed. A Shima spokesman said the company is "currently in the process of interacting with several auditors," however, the results are unknown.
Attempts to find an auditor
A summer 2021 investor presentation said Shima was trying to bring in Richey May & Co. to provide tax and audit services. However, the auditor's partner stated that the firm "has never been formally engaged or issued any audit reports for Shima Capital."
After the failure, Shima turned to BDO, which was named as a "potential auditor" in the lawsuit. However, after the policy change, the venture capital firm went beyond BDO's risk parameters.
This was followed by Marcum LLP, which recently began to appear in Shima's regulatory documents. According to a person familiar with the matter, Marcum was prosecuted earlier this year, but the accounting firm ultimately determined that Shima is outside its risk parameters. As a result, two-year attempts to find an auditor have so far been unsuccessful.
Crypto companies are in no hurry to undergo an audit
According to Bloomberg analysts, only 31 of the top 60 companies in the cryptocurrency industry have undergone a financial audit or provided proof of reserves. The study involved representatives of various fields: crypto exchanges (Binance and Coinbase), miners, token issuers (Tether) and analysts blockchain security (Chainalysis).
The results of the study showed that about half of the surveyed enterprises now engage an independent auditor to assess their finances. Another 63% of companies had an independent board of directors. What's more, about 46% of the 24 firms that disclosed information about their current auditor said their full financial audit was conducted by a Big Four accountant.
