Accounting firm Ernst & Young failed to request bank statements from the Singapore bank that the fintech claimed to have up to €1bn in cash; Wirecard filed for insolvency last week, revealing that €1.9bn in cash probably did not exist; EY relied on documents and screenshots provided by a third-party trustee and Wirecard; “The big question for me is what on earth did EY do when they signed off the accounts?” said a senior banker at a lender with credit exposure to Wirecard according to the FT; EY had issued unqualified audits of Wirecard for a decade despite increasing questions over suspect accounting practices from journalists and short sellers; Akshay Naheta, a SoftBank executive who led an investment in Wirecard last year, attacked EY on Twitter according to the FT. “I’m totally baffled by the lack of competence and responsibility displayed by E&Y,” he wrote. “As an organisation that is meant to protect all stakeholders — creditors and shareholders — in companies, both public and private, they have materially failed in their fiduciary duties.” Financial Times.
