Ernst & Young fires dozens of US employees following allegations of ‘cheating’ during training

Ernst & Young (EY) has fired dozens of employees in the United States following allegations of misconduct during mandatory professional training sessions. The dismissals, which occurred last week, follow an internal investigation into the firm’s EY Ignite Learning Week in May. During the event, some employees reportedly attended multiple online training sessions simultaneously, which the company considered an ethics violation.

The firings sparked backlash from affected employees, many of whom say they were unaware of any wrongdoing. Some argued that EY promotional materials encouraged them to attend as many sessions as possible based on their availability.

“We all work with three instructors. I wanted to bring together new ideas to stand out,” one licensed consultant told the Financial Times. Another former employee expressed his frustration, saying, “EY fosters a culture of multitasking. When you have to bill 45 hours a week and do additional internal work, how could this not happen?

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The training in question was part of the 40 continuing professional education (CPE) credits that EY employees must complete each year. The firm stressed, however, that attending more than one session at a time violated its ethical guidelines.

In an official statement, EY highlighted its commitment to integrity, saying: “Our core values ​​of integrity and ethics are at the forefront of everything we do. Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken in a small number of cases where individuals have broken their rules. of our Global Code of Conduct and the US Apprenticeship Policy.

The incident comes amid increased scrutiny from the “Big Four” accounting firms over professional training malpractice. EY, in particular, has faced increased sensitivity following an incident in 2022, when the company was fined $100 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). for cheating on certification exams. In this case, hundreds of EY employees shared their responses, including on ethics tests, and the company’s management hid the violations from regulators.

The recent firings sparked internal controversy, with some employees arguing that the penalties were too harsh for the alleged violations. Critics also questioned why the company’s training system allowed employees to log into multiple Zoom sessions at once without issuing warnings or restrictions.

Following the May Learning Week survey, EY has revised its internal training policies. In August, the company issued a warning reminding employees to “complete this learning activity with integrity” and avoid attending multiple sessions simultaneously.