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UK accounting regulators are investigating EY for post office audits in the latest fallout from the horizon where hundreds of post offices were falsely convicted based on information from broken software.
The Financial Reporting Council said Wednesday it will scrutinise whether Big Four For Four’s work on post office audits for financial years ended while meeting accounting standards between 2015 and 2018 will be scrutinized.
The FRC said the investigation will focus specifically on “issues related to Horizon IT systems” that were at the heart of the scandal.
The opening of the probe follows the conclusion of a public hearing, which took place as part of a broader investigation into the Horizon scandal that does not cover the Post Office’s EY audit.
Founded in 2020 to investigate more than 900 subpostmasters have been convicted of using false data from the Horizon IT system, the investigation concludes the hearing in December and prepares to release its final report.
The case sparked public outrage when it was made into a drama in the 2024 ITV series, prompting laws to clear the names of convicted subpostmasters.
Oversight of post office audits usually falls under the trade agency, a Certified Public Accountants Institute in England and Wales, but the FRC said it had “reclaimed” the issue for the “elevated” public interest surrounding it.
EY said the FRC investigation has been notified, adding: “We take responsibility for the public interest very seriously and will fully cooperate with the FRC during the investigation.”
