The PCAOB review was conducted in April. E&Y removed Higgins from the audit team in July. The status of the senior manager and engagement partner was not discussed.
PCAOB Censures E&Y Manager
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has censured CPA Jacqueline Higgins for backdating audit documents in March, allegedly at the direction of a senior manager and the engagement partner at Ernst & Young's Boston office. The actions were reportedly taken in preparation for a PCAOB inspection despite the fact all three had receive a communication from the firm not to change any records.
The other participants were not named in the action censuring Higgins, who joined E&Y in 2005. Among missing documents from one audit that were backdated were a Review Procedures Memorandum, an Average Forward Foreign Currency Contracts Calculation and three checklists in working papers. Higgins was also told to create a document that tied-out final financial statements that replaced one that tied-out pre-final statements.
