EY fined over audits of failed German payments firm Wirecard

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The German arm of EY has been fined 500,000 euros after acting as the auditor for collapsed payments company Wirecard and barred from auditing certain kinds of companies for two years. Germany’s APAS accounting oversight body said Monday that it imposed the fine for breach of professional duty in auditing Wirecard. It says the decision can be appealed in court, and while it bars the auditor from taking on new companies “of public interest,” it doesn’t prevent it from servicing existing clients. Wirecard filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 after 1.9 billion euros in cash balances on its books couldn’t be verified. EY says it regrets the “fraud at Wirecard was not discovered” and has “learned important lessons.”