Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young will pay $100 million to settle charges laid by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) addressing systematic cheating among its accounting professionals on certified public accountant (CPA) license exams over four years.

EY admitted it withheld information about its own whistleblower reports and an internal investigation into the employee cheating, hindering the SEC’s investigation into the misconduct.

The $100 million fine is the largest the agency has ever imposed against an audit firm.

“This action involves breaches of trust by gatekeepers within the gatekeeper entrusted to audit many of our nation’s public companies. It’s simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said Tuesday in a press release. “And it’s equally shocking that Ernst & Young hindered our investigation of this misconduct. This action should serve as a clear message that the SEC will not tolerate integrity failures by independent auditors who choose the easier wrong over the harder right.”

By allowing the cheating to continue and for hindering the SEC’s investigation into the scandal, EY violated a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) rule requiring the firm to maintain integrity in the performance of a professional service; committed acts discreditable to the accounting profession; and failed...

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