Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 12, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 12, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFour EY partners left after Shell audit breaches, prompting Shell to appoint PwC as its new auditor. The Financial Reporting Council is investigating.
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Four EY partners have left the firm after breaching independence rules during its audit of Shell that led to the termination of a $66 million-a-year contract, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The exits happened last December as the accounting firm rushed to contain the fallout from the compliance failures, the report said.
Shell did not respond immediately to a Reuters' request for comment. EY declined to comment.
Shell said in a July 2025 regulatory filing that EY had breached rules that require an accounting firm to change its lead audit partner every five to seven years.
At the time, it also said that it would amend its 2023 and 2024 annual reports after EY failed to comply with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules on partner rotation.
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.
Earlier this month, Shell chose PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its next auditor after a tender process, with PwC set to replace EY from 2027.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Anna Peverieri in Barcelona; Editing by Kim Coghill and Tomasz Janowski)
An audit is an official inspection of an organization's accounts, typically by an independent body, to ensure accuracy and compliance with established standards.
Compliance in finance refers to the process of adhering to laws, regulations, and guidelines that govern financial practices and reporting.
A regulatory investigation is an inquiry conducted by a regulatory body to assess whether an organization is complying with applicable laws and regulations.
Financial reporting is the process of producing statements that disclose an organization's financial status to management, investors, and regulators.
An accounting firm is a business that provides accounting services such as auditing, tax preparation, and consulting to clients.
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