Ernst & Young, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms in the United States, will pay a $100 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission after admitting its auditors had cheated on the certified public accountant exams.
The SEC found that 49 of the accounting firm’s auditors had “obtained or circulated” answers to CPA license exams and that hundreds of its employees cheated on the ethics portion of the exam and “various continuing professional education courses” required to maintain their licenses over “multiple years,” the SEC said in a statement.
FORMER MEADOWS AIDE CASSIDY HUTCHINSON EXPECTED TO BE WITNESS FOR SURPRISE JAN. 6 HEARING
“This action involves breaches of trust by gatekeepers within the gatekeeper entrusted to audit many of our nation’s public companies. It’s simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
Between 2017 to 2021, 49 of the firm’s auditors shared or received answers to the ethics exams in order to receive their licenses. Hundreds of others cheated on continuing education courses needed to maintain their standing with state oversight boards.
This is not the first instance of cheating at the firm. From 2012 to 2015, over 200 auditors at Ernst & Young “exploited a software flaw” in the company’s testing platform to cheat on exams, the SEC said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In addition to the penalty, the firm is required to take several remedial measures, including hiring two independent consultants to review policies and procedures related to ethics and integrity.
The penalty is the largest imposed by the SEC against an audit firm, the agency said.
