Accounting Firm Ernst & Young Fined $100 Million After Employees Cheated on CPA Exams

Accounting Firm Ernst & Young , Fined $100 Million , After Employees Cheated on CPA Exams. CNN reports that on June 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said , a "significant number" of Ernst & Young's auditors cheated on ethics portions of tests to keep CPA licenses.

The accounting firm has been fined $100 million, the SEC's largest-ever fine against that type of company.

This action involves breaches of trust by gatekeepers within the gatekeeper entrusted to audit many of our nation’s public companies.

, Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, via press release.

It’s simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things, Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, via press release.

This action should serve as a clear message that the SEC will not tolerate integrity failures by independent auditors who choose the easier wrong over the harder right.

, Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, via press release.

Ernst & Young has also been ordered to employ two independent consultants to "help remediate its deficiencies.".

Ernst & Young is complying with the SEC's order and said that “nothing is more important than our integrity and our ethics.”.

We have repeatedly and consistently taken steps to reinforce our culture of compliance, ethics, and integrity in the past.

, Spokesperson for Ernst & Young, via CNN.

We will continue to take extensive actions, including disciplinary steps, training, monitoring, and communications that will further strengthen our commitment in the future, Spokesperson for Ernst & Young, via CNN