McKenna Interviewed By Public Relations Site Gorkana

Gorkana covers the latest industry news for the PR and corporate communications community. I spoke to Social Media Executive Ebunola Adenipekun last fall about the evolution of this blog, its relationship to its readers and my interactions with the public relations, corporate communications community.

Here’s an excerpt.  The full interview can be found here.

Do PRs help you?

I’m pitched by PRs quite often but my stories are rarely prompted by their contact. I write about the business of the accounting and audit industry and it’s often critical of the industry and the firms. Most PR is promoting products, software and services and the people who deliver those products and services. That’s not what I’m interested in and that’s not what I write about. My blog is not PR for the industry but intended to raise awareness of the challenges and issues facing the industry and shareholders in public companies who pay for and depend on the auditors’ report.

Do you have much contact with PRs from the big 4? How can they help you more?

PRs, communications and legal professionals from the Big 4 monitor my writing and my Twitter and LinkedIn posts. They rarely call me. They do answer my calls quickly when I have a question but the industry practice is generally “no comment” about clients, litigation or anything else.

Why is blogging important in your field? Your site is very technically led – what new regulations are you looking to cover – the impact of Solvency II perhaps, for European auditors?

There are few resources for professionals and others who want to understand how the audit industry works from the inside. I have that experience and I am free to write about it. Most people who have that knowledge are still working in the industry or dependent on it for their livelihood. I am not. I can write with a strong point of view. It’s important for those who work in the industry and who depend on it for the integrity of financial information to have an independent view of the issues facing CPAs and audit professionals when they attempt to perform their public duty.

Probably the most important issues facing the industry are the repeated attempts at reform after each crisis or big failure. The wheels spin for a while and not much of substance is ever done. More and more, the firms are facing crippling litigation from these failures and at some point we will face another firm failure, like Arthur Andersen after Enron. Unfortunately regulators did not create a viable contingency plan for how investors would be served if another audit firm fails.