US regulators have fined professional services firm Ernst & Young $9.3m for failures including an auditor’s romantic involvement with a client, the first time an enforcement action has been taken in relation to big companies and their outside auditors.
Investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission found that a senior EY partner involved in the audit of a New York-based public company forged an improperly close friendship with the company’s chief financial officer.
Another partner on the team who was auditing a different public company became romantically involved with its chief accounting officer. In both instances, EY failed to take the appropriate action, the SEC said.