A senior auditor at another firm said that obtaining independent confirmation of bank balances was “equivalent to day-one training at audit school”. The lender did not receive any query from EY in relation to Wirecard between 2016 and 2018, the person added. The Big Four accounting firm had issued unqualified audits of Wirecard for a decade despite increasing questions over suspect accounting practices from journalists and short-sellers. The head of audit at a rival accounting firm to EY said: “It is beyond the realms of reality that EY wouldn’t have had [the bank balance confirmations] unless they did a very poor audit. Accounts published by Wirecard showed that five different EY partners signed its accounts over the past five years.

Source: The Irish Times June 26, 2020 14:15 UTC