米EY、独立性違反で監査人辞任（CFOより）

‘Inappropriate Relationship’ Sinks Ernst & Young Audit

米国のVentasというREITの監査において、監査人であるEYのパートナーと同REITの会計責任者の間で独立性違反となる「不適切な個人的関係」があったとして、EYが監査人を辞任したという記事。

Despite perfectly clean financial reporting, a company might find itself forced to have its financial reports re-audited if the company and its auditor have violated the Securities and Exchange Commission’s auditor-independence rules.

That, apparently, is one takeaway from a series of events that saw Ernst & Young inform an audit client, Ventas, on July 3 that the Big Four firm wasn’t properly independent of Ventas because of an “inappropriate personal relationship” between an unnamed E&Y partner and Ventas’s chief accounting officer and controller, Robert Brehl. The public disclosure came in a press release issued Wednesday by Ventas, a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the health-care industry.

同REITは、KPMGを後任の監査人に選ぶとともに、問題の会計責任者を解雇しています。KPMGは、独立性違反となっている過年度の監査やレビューを、再監査・再レビューすることになります。

The REIT also announced yesterday that it had fired E&Y on July 5, had hired KPMG as its auditor and fired Brehl. “As the company’s new independent public accounting firm, KPMG has been engaged to complete a re-audit and re-review of the relevant periods,” according to the Ventas release.

独立性は会計監査の大前提なので、大きな違反の場合には、監査対象である財務諸表や行われた監査手続に特に問題がない場合でも、監査無効、再監査となるようです。（日本では、そのような例はあまり聞きませんが）