EY breached independence rules for its audits of Shell in the US and in the UK, the energy major has revealed, putting the Big Four firm in regulators’ crosshairs again.
Shell said on Wednesday that the EY partner who led the audit of its 2023 and 2024 financial results had exceeded the period allowed under strict rotation rules set by American regulators, meaning the individual was not eligible to perform that role. EY also told Shell that it had breached UK rotation rules.
The update comes after the Big Four firm was fined in April by the UK accounting watchdog for a similar breach. The Financial Reporting Council issued EY with a ￡325,000 penalty for auditing listed company Stirling Water Seafield Finance for more than 10 years without publicly retendering for the contract.