Article 10 of the Saudi Accounting and Auditing Profession Law

This is the main penal article of the Law. Without prejudice to any penalty provided for in another law, it punishes with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years and a fine not exceeding two million riyals, or either penalty, whoever commits one or more of the following crimes:

1. Providing incorrect information or forged certificates to obtain the license.
2. Misleading the public by any means that he has the right to practice the profession when he is not licensed, or his license has been struck off, or he has stopped or is suspended from practice.
3. A certified accountant providing false information, or concealing information that should have been disclosed, in any report, account or document while practicing the profession, knowing of it.
4. His certifying a report contrary to the truth, or untrue facts in a document that he must issue by law or under the requirements of the profession.
5. His certifying a distribution of fictitious profits.
6. His disclosing any of the secrets of the entity to which he provides his services.
7. His certifying by his signature financial reports that neither he nor those working under his supervision audited.
8. His providing incorrect information about the qualifications and experience of his employees, or contributing to providing it.

Publication of the judgment: the court may provide in its judgment for publication of a summary of it at the expense of the convicted person in one or more newspapers in his place of residence, or in the nearest area if there is no newspaper, or by any suitable means, according to the type of the crime, its gravity and its effect, provided that publication is after the judgment becomes final.

Note that the first and second items do not limit the act to the certified accountant, unlike the other items, which expressly refer to the certified accountant. Article 9, which precedes it, requires a person who stops or is suspended to notify the Authority and his clients. Anyone facing an accusation of one of these crimes is advised to consult a lawyer specializing in criminal cases.