Four partners leave EY after potential breaches of Shell audit, FT reports

Feb 12 (Reuters) – Four partners have left EY following potential breaches in its audit of Shell that resulted in the oil major dropping the accounting firm as its auditor, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The partners left one of the world’s “Big Four” leading accounting and consulting networks in December as it rushed to contain the fallout from the compliance failure, the report said citing public records and people familiar with the matter.

The four who left included one partner who had been elevated to EY’s top ranks just months earlier and Gary Donald who led the Shell audit, it added.

Earlier this month, Shell said it had chosen PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) as its next auditor after a tender process, with PwC set to replace EY from 2027.

Shell said in a July regulatory filing that EY had breached rules that require an accounting firm to change its lead audit partner every five to seven years.

In December, Britain’s Financial Reporting Council said it had opened an investigation into EY’s audit of Shell’s 2024 financial statements over potential breaches of audit partner rotation rules.

Both EY and Shell were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Barcelona; Editing by Kim Coghill)