Weatherford has already agreed to a $140 million penalty and the E&Y money will be combined with that amount to return more than $152 million to investors. Both Fronckiewicz and Adams agreed to be suspended from practicing before the SEC or participating in audits of public companies. They did not admit or deny the findings.

The SEC said it took the audit team more than four years to detect the fraud even though the firms categorized Weatherford audits as high risk and the team was aware of post-closing adjustments by Weatherford that significantly lowered its year-end income tax provisions. The audit team, the SEC said, relied on company explanations instead of performing required audit processes.

The order also says E&Y did not take effective measures to minimize known recurring problems its audit teams experienced when auditing tax accounting.

The assessment against the accounting firm is comprised by disgorgement of $9 million, prejudgment interest of more than $1.8 million, and a penalty of $1 million. Fronckiewicz can apply for reinstatement after two years; Adams after one year.