EY’s Failure in Wirecard Saga: No Public Audits in Germany for 2 Years

Following its failures relating to collapsed payments firm Wirecard, EY, an accounting firm, has been barred from accepting companies categorized as "of public interest" as new auditing customers in Germany for two years.
The German auditor supervisory authority APAS imposed the ban for “breaches of professional duty” that occurred between 2016 and 2018.
Additionally, APAS has fined EY €500,000 and imposed small penalties on five of its staff.
Prior to its collapse in 2020, Wirecard was a rising blue-chip star, receiving unqualified audits from EY for more than a decade before the Big Four firm refused to sign off on its 2019 results.
Since then, EY has lost several significant clients in Germany, including Commerzbank, DWS, and KfW. Commerzbank has taken legal action against EY for the recovery of €200 million in losses related to the collapse.
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Former Wirecard boss Marcus Braun is currently facing charges of fraud, misappropriation of corporate assets, accounting fraud, and market manipulation and has pleaded not guilty.