SEC Official Warns CPA Firm Restructurings Add to Ethics Risks

As large accounting firms like Ernst & Young consider splitting their businesses, those restructurings and other investments into the firms could open them up to additional ethics risks, the SEC’s top accountant said Thursday.

“As you get capital infusion, often times those capital providers have other companies in their portfolio,” Paul Munter, acting chief accountant to the Securities and Exchange Commission, said on the sidelines of an accountant liability conference in Washington. “The question then becomes what does your affiliate tree look like and what are the potential conflicts that are created by an expanded affiliate tree.”

• Munter has ...