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E&Y sued over Anglo Irish Bank collapse

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3rd Dec 2012
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Ernst & Young is being sued by the former Anglo Irish Bank for its conduct leading up to the bank's collapse in 2009, in what Irish media is calling a "watershed moment"

This is the first time an Irish bank has ever sued an auditor over its role in the financial crisis.

The former Anglo Irish Bank, which is now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRS), said in a website statement that proceedings had been started against E&Y relating to "the role of Ernst & Young as auditors to Anglo Irish Bank pre-nationalisation," but said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

E&Y said it was aware of the proceedings, but also refused to elaborate.

In 2009, the bank was nationalised in the wake of the financial and property crash.

The rescue almost bankrupted Ireland, costing the country €23.9bn that was widely used by property developers to keep the country's housing market afloat. 

Anglo Irish, amongst other banks, was accused of encouraging the speculation that led to Ireland's IMF bailout and the bank has been under investigation for fraud during the past four years. 

The bank's collapse also brought down the business empire controlled by Sean Quinn, once Ireland's richest man, who relied heavily on Anglo during the Celtic Tiger boom years. 

E&Y was the auditor at Anglo Irish for 10 years until 2009, when the firm was replaced by Deloitte. Ernst & Young earned around €9m in audit fees over that period.

The legal proceedings are not the first time the fim's conduct has been challenged at Anglo Irish. 

Following a two-year investigation, E&Y was accused last year by the former comptroller and auditor general  John Purcell of failing to notice the loans former Anglo chairman Sean Fitzpatrick owed to the bank, which he moved temporarily off the books at the accounting year end.

The case was referred to Ireland's Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board, but E&Y denied the claims and said it would "vigorously" defend itself.

This is the third Big Four firm to face legal proceedings in the past week. Last week, a lawsuit was filed against Deloitte and KPMG over their role in HP's purchase of UK software firm Autonomy, whose accounting "black holes" led to massive losses for HP. 

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Replies (8)

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By ROB BROWN 43
03rd Dec 2012 21:12

Independence

would love to see the audit satisfaction regarding the independence on a ten year tenure???????

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By Cardigan
04th Dec 2012 09:24

AIB v Anglo Irish Bank

Although we sometimes like to tar all banks with the same brush, Anglo Irish Bank and AIB (Allied Irish Banks) are two separate banks.

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By Rachael White
04th Dec 2012 09:39

Thanks for pointing that out, it was an administrative error. Corrected now. 

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By Cardigan
04th Dec 2012 09:47

No problem

What's a typo compared to a banking fiasco which nearly bankrupted Ireland!

 

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By carnmores
04th Dec 2012 16:05

we remember Ansbacher

and good old Charlie Haughey

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By Tim 59
05th Dec 2012 12:30

Were Delotte the auditors of RBS when it crashed?

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By N.Krishnaswamy
05th Dec 2012 14:19

This is not new. If one examines the spate of scandals since the beginning of the century ,they are all under the very eyes of the BIG Fours only except perhaps some small audit of one or two.

These big fours do not audit the accounts or vouchers and only concentrate on presentation of the financial statements as could be ascertained from the various friends who prepare the accounts for these auditors to audit.

Even though the audit team can extract so many unaccountable entries, they could not raise their voice as their bosses are more interested in the fees rather than the good work and earnest reporting. They can always settle their wrong doings with the regulators by paying the moneys and they can go on  like this  for ever.

Now the disease of big fours are spreading in surruptious acquiring of the middle size firms by surrogate owenrship of small firms without the label of the BIG fours in the front but internally controlling the work, perhaps preparing the grond to face any adverse conclusion of the Competition  council.

AASB should delete the wording in the Audit report and revert to the old model:  

These financial statements are the responsibility of the company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our Audit.

The probelm is that they do not express their opinion frankly.

One of the greatest wonder of the world now is that so many scandals have occurred but no penal actions like suspending the license of these firms have been taken on hand. Only if such serious action is taken, then  such drawbacks  in the auditing profession could  be reduced, if not fully eliminated.

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By Sucker4big4
05th Dec 2012 17:55

Expectations Gap

This to me looks like just another expectations gap issue.  Banks are large enough to understand what they are doing, it's not up to the Big4 to tell them what to do.  Auditors are not there to stop a company making bad decisions, all they do is express an opinion on the past and consider if there are any issues that mean the company will not be a going concern for the foreseeable future, a period that is not that long at all.  The only people who should really pay for failure are the failures themselves.  The auditors didn't tell them to lend more than their balance sheets could stomach nor to risky clients, that's where the real issue is.  

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