EY has been given extra time to resolve points uncovered by an examination dishonest scandal that landed it a $100mn fantastic final 12 months, because it wrestles with the fallout from findings that it misled US regulators.

The settlement with the Securities and Alternate Fee ordered an unbiased investigation into why the Huge 4 agency’s US leaders did not disclose proof from a whistleblower that workers had been sharing solutions on skilled assessments, together with ethics exams.

It initially set a January deadline for the completion of the investigation and for EY to start implementing any suggestions, similar to disciplinary motion towards these concerned.

The SEC settlement additionally ordered an unbiased consultants’ evaluate of EY’s testing procedures, to be submitted by the tip of March.

However the work has not been concluded, and the SEC has given the unbiased consultants extra time to finish their evaluate, based on folks aware of the matter.

The $100mn fantastic was the biggest paid by an accounting agency over examination dishonest, and considerably affected US companions’ earnings.

A whole bunch of EY employees had discovered methods to cheat on the assessments wanted to maintain their skilled licences, the SEC discovered, and extra stayed silent concerning the widespread wrongdoing.

The SEC was significantly angered by the invention that EY had held again data from regulators. The agency informed regulators in June 2019 that points with dishonest had been previously despite the fact that, someday earlier, its human sources division had acquired a brand new employees tip about misconduct.

EY didn’t right its submission to the SEC, which solely realized concerning the newest wave of dishonest the next March, when the agency disclosed it to a different regulator.

The unbiased consultants that EY was ordered to rent have been charged with reviewing the agency’s procedures to stop extra dishonest sooner or later and inspecting “whether or not any members of EY’s government workforce, normal counsel’s workplace, compliance employees or different EY workers contributed to the agency’s failure to right its deceptive submission” to the SEC.

EY mentioned: “Now we have met each deadline required of us, with the settlement of the SEC employees, and extensions are usually not unusual.” The SEC declined to remark.

EY is coping with the fallout from the dishonest scandal towards a backdrop of uncertainty over the way forward for the agency.

Its world management final 12 months agreed to pursue a spin-off of its consulting and tax advisory enterprise, however the plan has run into resistance from leaders of the US audit enterprise. EY’s US managing companion Julie Boland final month referred to as a halt to plans for the break up.

Talks are persevering with between the US management and the remainder of the worldwide agency about how the transaction could be reshaped.