Ernst & Young has been hit with a regulatory probe over a 2022 audit of failed online furniture retailer Made.com, marking further bad news for the ‘Big Four’ accountant.
EY is already facing investigations into audits of other failed firms, including Thomas Cook, NMC Health and London Capital & Finance, alongside work for Scottish firm Stirling Water Seafield Finance.
Issues found in an audit of Made.com accounts in the year to December 2021 prompted EY to report itself to the Financial Reporting Council.
Made.com collapsed in early November last year, subsequently being bought out of administration by Next PLC (LSE:NXT) just days later.
Another investigation adds to a spate of bad news for EY, which announced 3,000 jobs cuts earlier this week following the scrapping of plans to spin off its consultancy wing.
Some US$600mln was spent on the plan which would have created two separate auditing and consultancy businesses but was abandoned on fears the former wouldn’t cope.
EY denied job cuts were in response to the failed plan, but rather blamed worsening “economic conditions” and “overcapacity”.
Joining rivals KPMG and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in slashing staff as part of a wider recoil from a post-pandemic hiring spree, EY executives reportedly told staff to bill clients for “every hour we get our hands on” earlier this week.