Post Office auditor EY under investigation by accounting regulator FRC
Post Office auditor and big four accounting firm EY is being investigated by the industry’s regulator.
Accounting and audit watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said the investigation related to EY’s 2015 to 2018 audits of Post Office accounts and the faulty accounting software, Horizon IT.
The regulator will be examining the role of EY in meeting the auditing standards, the FRC said.
Money: Best mobile phone providers ranked
The Horizon computer programme, made by Fujitsu, wrongly generated financial shortfalls. This led many sub-postmasters to take on significant debt to repay the imagined losses, causing some to lose homes, become bankrupt, suffer ill health, and experience relationship breakdown.
Evidence from Horizon was used to prosecute hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting.
It is understood that the years from 2015 and 2018 were selected, as looking at a longer period of time would slow down the investigation, which would not be in the public interest.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Call to sue govt over Post Office redress delays
Information available to the FRC has to pass a threshold for an investigation to be launched, as the body does not undertake such examinations with the hope of making a discovery.
By 2015, the scandal had been reported on in the media, and the Post Office ceased bringing prosecutions using Horizon data.
Towards the end of 2015, 555 sub-postmasters instigated legal proceedings against the Post Office that would lead to the public admission of Horizon flaws. The last prosecution with Horizon data is believed to have been in 2014.
Read more:
Sue the government, Sir Alan Bates tells fellow Post Office victims
Inflation continues to fall but expect a rebound next month
EY ceased to be the Post Office auditor in 2018, the year before the state-owned company publicly acknowledged and apologised for Horizon defects. It had been the auditor of Royal Mail since 1986, when Royal Mail and the Post Office were a single entity, and since the split-off of the businesses in 2013.
What next?
The FRC announcing this investigation neither precludes nor indicates further inquiries into EY audits across other years, Sky News understands.
While it is not possible to know how long the investigation will take, 50% of FRC cases are concluded within two years and 80% finish within three years.
The regulator can hit a firm with financial penalties or apply mitigation policies to a company to improve standards.
The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry ran for two-and-a-half years to establish a clear account of the introduction and failure of Horizon, but its scope did not include the role or knowledge of external auditors.
Its developments had been monitored, the FRC said.
Responding to the announcement, EY said: “We take our public interest responsibilities extremely seriously and will be fully cooperating with the FRC during their investigation.”
Paedophile Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died after being attacked in prison.
Watkins, 48, was serving a 29-year jail term for multiple sexual offences, including serious crimes against young children and babies at HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.
He was attacked with a knife by another inmate on Saturday morning, sources have confirmed.
West Yorkshire Police said two men, aged 25 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
A police van outside Wakefield prison. Pic: YappApp
Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene after prison staff reported the assault to police.
The prison went into lockdown in the immediate aftermath of the incident, sources added.
A Prison Service spokesperson said they could not comment while the police investigate.
Watkins was previously stabbed in an incident at the same prison in 2023, suffering non life-threatening injuries after he was reportedly taken hostage by three other inmates before being freed by prison officers six hours later.
He was sentenced in December 2013 to 29 years in prison, with a further six years on licence, after admitting 13 sex offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.
Watkins performing in 2004. Pic: PA
Read more from Sky News:
Nova festival survivor dies two years after girlfriend killed
Police try to keep protesters apart at Gaza war demo
He also encouraged a second fan to abuse her child during a webcam chat and secretly stashed child sexual abuse videos, some of which he had made himself.
At the time, police described him as a “committed, organised paedophile”.
Having found fame in Welsh rock band Lostprophets, Watkins was arrested after his Pontypridd home was searched on orders of a drug warrant in September 2012.
A large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized during the search.
When sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, the singer was told he was being given an extended sentence – and a judge said his crimes “plumbed new depths of depravity”.
After being caught with a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, he told a court that he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst”.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024