McKenna Linked To In The Times UK
I was linked to March 23, 2010 in the Times of London UK on the Lehman story as the source for EY’s response to audit committee members regarding the Lehman bankruptcy examiner report.
Ernst & Young defended its work in a letter sent by several audit partners to the firm’s key clients and vowed to fight any follow-on legal action from regulators or creditors. “Ernst & Young is confident we will prevail should any of the potential claims identified against us be pursued,” the firm told clients.
“Lehman’s bankruptcy was the result of a series of unprecedented adverse events in the financial markets. [Its] bankruptcy was caused by a collapse in its liquidity, which was, in turn, caused by declining asset values and loss of market confidence in Lehman. It was not caused by accounting issues or disclosure issues.”
The letter was leaked to re:The Auditors, an American blog. In it, the firm described recent media coverage of Mr Valukas’s report as “at times . . . inaccurate, if not misleading”.
Several other media outlets also credited me as the first place this letter was published.
I have also posted a letter Ernst & Young sent to Audit Committee members defending themselves against the numerous allegations in the Lehman Examiner’s Report.
An Ernst & Young Response: Dear Audit Committee Member…
Update:
The Financial Times FTAlphaville blog links to the Audit Committee Letter this morning.
Reuters Emily Chasan picked up on this and linked to me today in her story on the Lehman whistleblower.
Blogger extraordinaire Zero Hedge follows up Emily Chasan’s story with his own including a shoutout to Emily and I.
Hey,
I work in the industry and think it’s important to note that auditors operated under existing rules and GAAP or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. That rule has since been codified into the Accounting Standards Codification under ASC 860-10.” E&Y shouldn’t be held liable because the rules did allow for the practice. So I don’t think anyone can really hold the auditors to rules that have been changed.”