Ernst & Young's recent online training scandal sheds light on the time and ethical pressures faced by accountants and finance teams in balancing client work with ongoing professional training requirements.

Earlier this month, the Big Four accounting firm fired dozens of U.S. employees for simultaneously taking multiple online training courses—which count toward annual continuing professional education credits. According to the Financial Times, Ernst & Young determined that "watching two courses at the same time" constituted an "ethics violation," but one dismissed employee said they had not received any related warning.

Given the demands faced by certified public accountants (CPAs)—often working in understaffed teams due to the accounting talent shortage, while also needing to earn continuing professional education (CPE) credits to maintain their licenses—some experts are not surprised by the multitasking phenomenon.

"If firms are trying to maintain the same level of business with reduced headcount, CPAs will naturally prioritize client work and view CPE requirements as something easy to overlook," said Omar Roubi, an accounting lecturer at the University of Colorado Denver and director of education and content at LumiQ, a CPA podcast app. "Accountants must do the same amount of work with fewer resources, and time is one of them."

An Ernst & Young spokesperson confirmed the terminations to CFO Dive via email but declined to comment further. The statement said: "At Ernst & Young, the core values of integrity and ethics guide everything we do. We take appropriate disciplinary action for any violation of our Code of Conduct and/or U.S. Learning Policy. Ernst & Young U.S. has terminated employees who, after thorough investigation, were confirmed to have violated the Global Code of Conduct and the U.S. Learning Policy."

This week, in another unrelated matter that similarly reflects Ernst & Young's strict ethical stance, the firm resigned as Super Micro Computer's registered public accounting firm, stating it had questions about whether the company was "committed to integrity and ethical values," according to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The U.S. terminations come about two years after Ernst & Young faced financial penalties over an exam cheating scandal. In 2022, the SEC fined the firm $100 million after Ernst & Young auditors cheated on ethics exams and concealed evidence of misconduct, as CFO Dive previously reported.

Daniel Tinkelman, an accounting professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, said in an email response that prior penalties for similar issues may have made Ernst & Young more sensitive to such problems and led to its strong response to the recent online exams.

Tinkelman noted that when CPE courses are involved, employers like Ernst & Young may have no choice but to take action, because states typically require candidates to self-report and attest that they have completed the required training hours.

Tinkelman said that while people often report more actual study time than they truly spend, in the past, paper-based self-study courses were difficult to detect because there was no way to prove someone was taking two courses simultaneously. Today, however, online courses are typically trackable and auditable.

If that is the case, "this is a provable false statement used to fake compliance with state licensing requirements. In my view, an employer who is aware of such intentional violations has a responsibility to take some action," Tinkelman said. "Moreover, if someone claims to have worked 16 hours and requests overtime pay, but actually worked only 6 hours, that is claiming unearned compensation, and any employer would find it hard to sympathize."

Roubi discussed with his ethics students whether Ernst & Young's firing of employees was an appropriate response to the online training situation, and the group ultimately supported Ernst & Young's actions. He said the group believed Ernst & Young needed to terminate these employees to send a signal, both internally and externally, that it values "learning culture and ethical behavior." However, Roubi himself thought the firm may have overreacted.

"I do think this is an overreaction, because I imagine these employees were watching multiple webinars simultaneously in order to complete their CPE in the most efficient way possible, so they could focus on client work," he said. "Personally, I don't think the punishment fits the offense, unless there is evidence that these employees have a prior history of such behavior."

Going forward, Roubi hopes firms will clearly communicate to employees that if taking training courses simultaneously is prohibited, this should be stated in advance (if it has not been already).