Bank auditors on up to €3,000 a day
Wednesday November 18 2009
ACCOUNTANTS from the company which gave Anglo Irish Bank the all-clear are now getting paid up to €3,000-a-day to examine the books of Irish Nationwide, writes Michael Brennan.
The building society, formerly headed by chief executive Michael Fingleton, is expected to have many of its property loans taken over by NAMA.
Fine Gael Senator Paddy Burke has said on the Seanad record that Ernst & Young staff are being paid for consultancy work in Irish Nationwide.
"A senior accountant in Ernst & Young is being paid €3,000 per day and a junior accountant is being paid €800 per day. It is outrageous that such fees are being commanded by such companies in this day and age," he said.
In total, Ernst & Young earned €9.1m in fees from the Anglo audit over the past 10 years. But the company is now being investigated by the former comptroller and auditor general John Purcell in relation to its performance as auditor for the bank.
An Ernst & Young spokesman said it was the firm's policy not to comment on the issue of fees.
It is understood Ernst & Young were hired by Irish Nationwide to carry out a pre-liminary examination of its books ahead of a possible merger with EBS and Irish Life & Permanent. A spokesman for Irish Nationwide could not be contacted for comment.
Irish Independent
