I’m EY cybersecurity and was selected for an independence audit at EY. They are asking for our 2020 taxes with only social security num blanked out. They also want copies of all of my 401k and brokerage account statements. I don’t have a problem showing which holding I have, but when I joined I was told that it’s what you have, not how much you have. I was very thorough when I initially filled out my forms so I don’t think I have things they’ll find, but I’m about to look for a new job. EY
Pro
You’re incredibly daft for a Cyber person.
Pro
You using cyber crime as an excuse not to provide this information to be more specific. All of the information that one would need to to commit a cyber crime, EY already has - your SSN, DOB, address, W-2 information, pay, insurance, 401k, etc. You don’t seem to complain about that.
What cyber crime would one commit if they know you IRA balance or stocks you invested into? EY isn’t asking you for your user ID and password.
Also, even if one could, if you’re ok with them having access to the first batch I listed, this additional information would be protected in exactly the same way. By the way, exactly the same way EY protects arguably far more sensitive information of thousands of clients.
Oh and all of this you agreed to in your employment contract, code of conduct and the independence confirmation you have signed every quarter you have been employed. So if you were really this concerned, maybe you should have read better.
So yeah, this logic makes no sense to me.
Chief
No one outside of the individual conducting audit is going to see it. If you have a finding that will get escalated up independence. The firm isn’t tracking your net worth or anything, why would they? Up to you how comfortable you feel with the process, but going to another big 4 isn’t going to change anything
Chief
Your about to look for a new job because of an independence audit?
Agree it feels like an invasion, but that is public accounting for you.
I’ve been though 2 independence audits. It doesn’t bother me sharing the information. It’s not like the information goes to your boss or your office or anyone you know.
Rising Star
Here’s my take - a firm that focuses on audit (whether or not you work on the auditing side) is not the right firm for you if you don’t want them to have your auditable information
Are you worried they will think you are too rich or not rich enough? Experienced hire here and the audit is cringe, but curious about the concern. If you’re on the broker feed they already know holdings quantity.
They claim that they don’t know how much you have, they only record which things you have. Which I think is also BS. It doesn’t matter how rich or not rich I am. I am probably somewhere in the low to middle in this crowd, so it’s not like I have anything to hide. It’s just so intrusive. And there are good jobs that don’t require this…
I support you. If your investment is a important and private thing to yourself, this is not a place to be. Also i agree with you that it makes little sense to ask for the exact numbers.
So the question is: is EY worse than the other big 4 for independence?
Rising Star
EY is by far the worse in terms of independence restriction and internal audits esp at the M level and above. I don’t even wanna be promo’d to M at this firm
Are you manager or senior?
Manager
Pro
I totally concur with yo frustration about audit, there is very little financial liberty with all of the big 4 and I wish I had this info before joining the firm - Definitely I would have leveraged this offer to join another company but keeping this aside I am not following your concern about privacy or database hack, I am pretty sure you shouldn’t be worried about all of this if you have nothing to hide!
EY5 nailed it.
Rising Star
It’s telling that the only people defending this practice is EYers. EY is notoriously the worst of all B4 on internal audits
If you replace all your assets with dogecoin, you'd never have an issue.
Actually don't do that. I did that and I'm now eating out of my underwear.