Jim Doty’s term as chairman of the PCAOB, the audit regulator, expired in October. All summer since I arrived in Washington D.C., leading up to that date and since, there’s been speculation about whether or not SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White would reappoint him to the job.
Auditor opinions on ICFR are not only not being done well, they are not producing warnings for investors and regulators that a material error and restatement is likely. Worse than that, when auditors get them wrong they whitewash their mistakes.
We now know more about what the firms have been hiding. The global capital markets, not just current shareholders, need full disclosure of the engagement teams on all public issuers over time, and in a way that is easily accessible.
There are five big auditor independence issues that space prevented a full discussion of yesterday and that are not on the agenda of the PCAOB SAG meeting this week. My hope is that regulators, policy makers and other interested parties will start talking about these issues, too, while I am in DC this week.
I’m writing now for American Banker. My first column covers a new appointment at Deloitte and how this might affect the firm’s clients in the mutual funds industry.
As if Ernst & Young didn’t have enough to worry about now they’ve got a public airing of some dirty laundry by the PCAOB.
New US Advisory Leader, Dana McIlwain laid out the bad news: The time has come to cut. Average utilization is hovering at 69%. Cash collections are millions short. Campus recruiting for Advisory has been stopped cold. Business sucks and then there’s the 800+ BearingPoint folks to absorb. On November 11th the rank and file partners, fortified after training and coaching by HR via a webcast in the next few days, will chop 300+ professionals from PwC Advisory…
I’ve drawn comparisons between law firm management and audit firm management many times before. Forgive me one more indulgence. Audit professionals are making a significant investment in their firms when they become a partner, according to the report provided by the Center for Audit Quality to ACAP in January of this year. In addition, the […]
Picture Source No, that’s not happening, but it could. It’s happening to the lawyers and the consultants to the lawyers are helping them think about how to do it nicely. I was reviewing my Top 20 Pages last night and realized that if I could write the post about Big 4 partner “salaries” and the […]
Photo Source Former tax partner set for historic payout after PwC settles harassment case I hadn’t written about this case much, although it’s a very interesting one. Many say that race and sex discrimination in business are things of the past. After all, if we can have a black man and a woman as potential […]
