Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Ernst & Young has been slapped with a record US$100 million fine from the U.S. government after regulators discovered that the company knew some of its auditors were cheating on exams for several years and did nothing to stop it.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that a "significant number" of the accounting firm's auditors cheated on the ethics portion of the Certified Public Accountant test and other courses needed to maintain the licenses. Perhaps more stunningly, the SEC said that Ernst & Young "made a submission" that it didn't have "current issues with cheating when, in fact, the firm had been informed of potential cheating on a CPA ethics exam."
The $100 million fine is its largest ever against an auditing firm.
"This action involves breaches of trust by gatekeepers within the gatekeeper entrusted to audit many of our nation's public companies," said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, in a press release. "It's simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things."
He added that it's "equally shocking" they hindered its investigation. "This action should serve as a clear message that the SEC will not tolerate integrity failures by independent auditors who choose the easier wrong over the harder right," Grewal said.
In addition to the fine, the SEC ordered Ernst & Young to retain two independent consultants to "help remediate its deficiencies," with one firm reviewing the company's procedures on ethics and another on its disclosure failures.
Ernst & Young said in a statement that "nothing is more important than our integrity and our ethics" and that it is complying with the SEC's order.
"We have repeatedly and consistently taken steps to reinforce our culture of compliance, ethics, and integrity in the past," an spokesperson for the firm said. "We will continue to take extensive actions, including disciplinary steps, training, monitoring, and communications that will further strengthen our commitment in the future."
The fine is double the one KPMG was ordered to pay in 2019 for similar allegations of cheating.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.