After the Wirecard scandal: auditors EY face high penalties

The auditor EY and some of his employees received record penalties after their role in the Wirecard scandal. This is reported by the “Handelsblatt”. The state auditor supervision Apas wants to decide on the measure by Friday. According to information from the business newspaper, however, it is heading towards the most comprehensive package of punitive measures it has ever imposed.

A possible fine is limited to a maximum of one million euros. However, the auditor oversight is considering a temporary non-competition clause. Means: EY should not accept any audit assignments from certain companies during this time.

That could worsen the image damage that EY suffered from the Wirecard scandal. According to “Handelsblatt”, EY should keep existing mandates. However, the company has not won a new audit mandate in the stock market segment since 2020. EY is currently examining eight Dax 40 groups, including Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank.

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EY examiners return licenses

However, individual EY examiners are also threatened with severe penalties. According to the “Handelsblatt”, two of them have now returned their auditor licenses. This means that Apas proceedings end automatically – without sanctions. They join four other former EY examiners who had previously returned their licenses.

Wirecard collapsed in June 2020 as a result of a multi-billion dollar fraud scandal. EY, however, had unreservedly certified the payment service provider’s false accounts by 2018. The auditor oversight had therefore already filed a criminal complaint in 2020. The accusation: The audit reports could have reported incorrectly and concealed significant circumstances.

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