re: The Auditors Mentioned In The Columbia Journalism Review

It’s been my great pleasure to get to know Ryan Chittum, the reporter for the Columbia Journalism Review’s (CJR) The Audit, a blog devoted to the critical look at business journalism. Ryan and I have not yet met in person, but  The Audit is a daily must read.

I did have the opportunity to meet some of his colleagues, including the editor of The Audit, Dean Starkman, in New York City. I recently attended a conference at Columbia University where he moderated. It was called “Facing The Fracture.”

re: The Auditors and this writer have been mentioned three times in the Columbia Journalism review during the past few months.

Most recently, CJR cited my coverage of the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigation hearings on Goldman Sachs. I highlighted an exchange between Senator Ted Kaufman and Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar that I think will become very important as the SEC continues to investigate the use of Repo 105 and similar accounting tricks.

I was mentioned indirectly when Ryan praised the New York Times and Louise Story’s piece on Lehman and their SIV Hudson Castle – a piece where I have a long quote. Ryan also sends me a challenge to write about Lehman, Hudson Castle and EY.

I guess that’s my job.

Finally, Ryan notes my column reflecting on his debate with John Carney on the wisdom of Lehman criminal prosecutions. And he notes my additional comment on what the Lehman bankruptcy examiner did not examine.

Have you read my Disclaimer? I claim not to be a journalist. I’m a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who writes. But it seems that I am being critiqued as a journalist since I keep coming up with all this original reporting!

It’s all helping me to be a better writer.

And it “shows to go you” that business readers and the investing public are interested in the Big 4 auditors and their role in the regulation of the capital markets.

If only this meant my work was done.

I think it is only beginning.

3 replies
  1. Oversight for the Better
    Oversight for the Better says:

    You know you are getting attention when you show up in a Science publication. For better or for worse?

    Science Book News No. 199 May 3, 2010
    by Phillip Manning

    JOKE OF THE WEEK: A mathematician, statistician and accountant were finalist for a position in a Wall Street bank. The hiring committee asked them all the same last question:
    The mathematician was first. “How much is 500 plus 500?” , they asked. “1000” she replied without hesitation. “Thank you”, they dismissed her. Next the statistician. “How much is 500 plus 500?””On the average, 1000 with 95 % confidence” replied the statistician. “Thank you”, they dismissed him. Next the accountant. “How much is 500 plus 500?””What would you like it to be?” responded the accountant. They immediately hired him. — Sonoma State University

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] met Jeff Connaughton in early 2010, in the midst of the debate over financial reform and the Dodd-Frank Act. A profile of Senator Ted Kaufman in BusinessWeek by Paul Barrett where I […]

  2. […] had the good fortune to be cited recently – it’s the fourth time if you’re keeping count – by The Audit and Starkman for my coverage of KPMG’s […]

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