EY admits the facts underlying the SEC’s charges and will pay a $100m (£81m) fine, the largest penalty ever imposed by the SEC against an audit firm. It will also have to undertake extensive remedial measures to fix the firm’s ethical issues.

It has also been accused of withholding evidence of this misconduct from the SEC’s enforcement division during an investigation of the matter.

‘This action involves breaches of trust by gatekeepers within the gatekeeper entrusted to audit many of our nation’s public companies. It’s simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things,’ said Gurbir S Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division.

‘And it