We've grown accustomed to the angst associated with regulators leaving their jobs to seek employment with the very industry they once regulated. It's often an unseemly situation. But what about when partners at top audit firms who leave to work for the company they once audited? All this is relevant in light of the Ernst & Young news: It has settled an embarrassing case involving a really botched audit of Bally's.

The New York Times suggests this is among the first cases in which top partners of a top audit firm was censured for essentially doing a rotten job. Six current and former partners were tagged, including Randy Fletchall, who was head of the firm's national office. The SEC noted that the audit firm itself had identified Bally "as a high-risk client in part because former Ernst auditors who had become Bally executives had "historically been aggressive in selecting accounting principles and determining estimates." So should firms be asked to periodically change audit firms? We may here renewed cries. 

For more:
- here's the article