Accounting firm EY has been banned from accepting companies "of public interest" as new auditing customers in Germany for two years over its failures relating to collapsed payments firm Wirecard.
German auditor supervisory authority APAS imposed the ban for “breaches of professional duty” between 2016 and 2018. APAS also fined EY €500,000 and hit five staffers with small penalties.
Wirecard was a rising blue chip star before its collapse in 2020 following the discovery of a gaping €1.9 billion hole in its balance sheet.
The company received unqualified audits from EY for more than 10 years, before the Big Four firm refused to sign off its 2019 results.
EY has since lost a number of major clients in Germany, including Commerzbank, DWS and KfW. In January, it emerged that Commerzbank is suing EY for the recovery of €200 million in losses related to the collapse.
Former Wirecard boss Marcus Braun is currently on trial, facing charges of fraud, misappropriation of corporate assets, accounting fraud and market manipulation. He has pleaded not guilty.
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