SEC sanctions Reno accounting firm

Forbush and Associates, a Reno public accounting firm, was penalized along with 68 other auditing firms or partners nationwide by the Securities and Exchange Commission for violation of a 2002 act requiring that CPA firms auditing public companies be registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The SEC said company President Daniel Forbush was not registered with the PCAOB when he prepared the 2003 financial statements for publicly-held SulphCo Inc. His company was paid $15,000 to audit the books of SulphCo, which was headquartered in Sparks at the time.

As a penalty, Forbush and Associates returned its accounting fees to SulphCo, was censured by the Accounting Oversight Board and was required to register with the PCAOB.

Forbush said he applied to the PCAOB while working up the SulphCo audit, but he filed the documents with the SEC before his registration was accepted. "I admitted I made mistake, I promised not to do it again, and I had to register with the PCAOB," he said.