The Topic Is BDO – Discuss
Neil McIntyre, CA-in-Waiting and Canadian boy-wonder blogger, wrote a post recently called, Sucks To Be Seidman. Neil is feeling this crisis personally and, if his picture wasn’t so darn cute, I would worry he was verklempt.
Reasonable assurance is neither reasonable nor assured.
Neil says:
“By now, the verdict in the BDO Seidman lawsuit has been covered by all the major industry blogs. All the heavyweights have registered their opinions in this great swirling mass known as the blogosphere. The mainstream media has tossed it around this way and that. There is near unanimity amongst all commenters: Sucks to be them.
I don’t disagree completely…”
I’ve joined the discussion between Neil, Krupo and Dennis. A few excerpts:
“Neil,two things:
1) Faked confirmations were the smoking gun in the Parmalat/Deloitte/Grant Thornton debacle. GT excuse? I was duped! ‘Nuf said.
2)BDO has been fighting (albeit successfully) instead of settling because they can’t afford to settle…”
Neil asks me:
“Francine, Is BDO doing the right thing compared to what KPMG did?”
My response:
“Neil,
I think KPMG did entirely the wrong thing for their partners, both the accused and those that remained…That being said, …(BDO has) been winning (even winning on the same tax shelter case that KPMG paid 400+ million on when they capitulated,) I would say they are very good at choosing very good lawyers, for sure…They are betting the farm every time they choose to fight instead of settle. If they’re in the right, then fight. But if they’re just being stubborn, cheap or irresponsible…”
Go here for more.
I’m afraid I’m more interested in the specifics of the Bankest case than I am in the question about what happens to BDO as a firm.
I do know that the lead engagement partner on Bankest was involved in an audit of a troubled company, that almost assuredly would have come to the attention of BDO’S US headquarters.
One year prior to the finding of massive fraud at the company, that very same job was selected for peer review in the Miami office, and, miraculously, no problems were found. Just how exactly that occurred is still somewhat of a mystery.
One more thing. Thanks to a phony internal investigation, BDO, senior management and others, were able to convince the nitwits at the SEC that no criminality was involved.
And who do you suppose was one of the company’s significant investors? Michael Lauer’s Lancer hedge fund.
Perhaps there’s mob involvement somewhere to be found in all of this…
By the way, did your visitor from the State Department come from DC or New York?