Upcoming Speeches and Appearances: Fall 2010
The fall is shaping up to be a very busy one for me. It may be as a result of ongoing interest in the financial crisis. It may be the number of lawsuits against the firms. Or it may be that many – media, academics, regulators and the civil and criminal justice system – are finally realizing what the audit firms have been trying to obfuscate for two years:
Accounting firms should be held accountable, too.
I’ve been writing the story of the Big 4 audit firms – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young for more than three years. This specialized news site, re: The Auditors, provides updates, opinion, analysis and original investigative reporting on the role, responsibilities and regulation of the audit/accounting industry in the global capital markets.
Have you seen my quote in the New York Times regarding Lehman and their SIV, Hudson Castle? It was the most popular story online that day.
Or maybe you saw my quote in the print and online edition of BusinessWeek on Anton Valukas, the Lehman bankruptcy examiner or on Senator Ted Kaufman, one of the members of the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigation? I wrote about visiting a Senator to talk about AIG, PwC, and Goldman Sachs. My coverage of Lehman, Goldman, New Century, Countrywide and the financial crisis has been mentioned positively in the Columbia Journalism Review more than once.
Even lawyers like me.
The journalists are being nice to me, too. Maybe I need to start wearing corduroy blazers with elbow patches. They named me as a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in the online commentary and blogging category.
It’s not just the financial crisis but stories closer to home that have attracted attention to re: The Auditors.
How about the resolution – as unsatisfying to me as it was – of the insider trading case against ex-Deloitte Vice Chairman Thomas Flanagan? My coverage was mentioned in the Financial Times.
Or maybe it was the horrendous happenings at HP as a result of their CEO Hurd? I told you what HP has in common with Chicago-based incorrigibles Boeing and Navistar. I find the connections that illuminate these stories in ways others don’t.
Or the recent bid by PwC for Chicago’s own Diamond Management and Technology? There’s original reporting there, insights not seen anywhere else.
You can read those stories. This fall you can also see me talk about these stories live. Or you can support my coverage of key conferences that will produce new stories about the audit firms and accounting profession.
On September 15th, I will be in New York, speaking on a distinguished panel sponsored by the New York County Lawyers Association. The panel includes Anton Valukas of Chicago’s Jenner & Block. He’s the author of the Lehman bankruptcy examiner’s report. The New York Times’ Floyd Norris will join us and the panel is moderated by Judge Elizabeth Stong.
On September 10-11 24-25, I will be delivering a seminar for the West Florida Chapter of ISACA. Several topics are on the 1 1/2 day agenda. If you are in the area, I hope you can attend or drop me a line if you’d like to meet and talk about the PwC IT layoffs, for example.
October 18-20, I’ll be in Naples FL, covering the Global Financial Leadership Conference, sponsored by The CME Group, as media. I will be reporting on presentations by speakers such as President Bill Clinton, Former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and author Michael Lewis.
November 15-16, I’ll be back in NYC at the FEI Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference, my third year covering this event. I’m looking forward to spending time with Edith Orenstein who writes for the FEI Blog.
If you would like me to speak at your event or for your organization please contact me for scheduling and speaking fee information.
If you or your organization would like to sponsor my coverage of these and other corporate governance, audit and accounting related events, or to request exclusive coverage or briefings, please request a media kit.
fmckenna [at] mckennapartners.com