April 16 (UPI) -- The EY accounting firm is under investigation over how it audited the British Post Office nearly a decade ago.
Britain's Financial Reporting Council accounting regulator announced Wednesday that it has begun look into "the statutory audits of the consolidated financial statements of Post Office Limited," conducted by EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, from March 2015 through 2018, in regard to "matters related to the Horizon IT system."
The Horizon accounting software was at the core of a scandal that falsely reported fiscal losses at the Post Office, which led to more than 900 employees being accused of theft, and saw hundreds of postal employees wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, some of whom were jailed or fined. Others are said to have committed suicide over the wrongful prosecution.
Britain introduced legislation to overturn Horizon IT system convictions of postal workers in March of 2024.
The FRC said this investigation was purposely held off until the conclusion of public hearings related to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
"While the Inquiry was extensive, it purposefully did not encompass the role or knowledge of external auditors in its scope," the FRC said in a press release.
The investigation will be conducted by the FRC's Enforcement Division under its Audit Enforcement Procedure.
