Ding Dong: Dan Ustian Out At Navistar
Crain’s Chicago Business reported yesterday that Dan Ustian, Chairman, CEO, and President of Navistar was unceremoniously dumped and has also left the board. It’s about time.
Service Provider To Profit: Deloitte and Standard Chartered Bank
/2 Comments/in The Case Against The AuditorsBased on the Standard Chartered Bank experience, it’s clear to me that a Big Four firm that wants to grow its consulting business is sorely tempted to “work with” a client it wants to do business with in the future, as a consultant or even as a future auditor.
“Reputation risk” doesn’t get in the way of audit firms helping criminal banks do illegal things. “Reputation risk” is now an oxymoron. Bankers and their enablers, the audit firms, have no risk to their reputation from anyone that matters.
At American Banker: Banks, Auditors, Market Concentration And More Audit Failures
/6 Comments/in Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsMy latest column at American Banker was published online on Monday and discussed some of the reasons, I think, why bank auditors are missing or consciously ignoring increased risk and poor to no controls.
PFGBest: Another Fraud, Another Example Of Weak Auditors and Weak Regulatory Oversight
/8 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsThe PFGBest fraud is another reason why the futures industry’s poor business environment, wracked with a crisis of confidence after MF Global, just got much worse.
Barclays Libor Scandal; More Client Headaches for PwC
/13 Comments/in The Case Against The AuditorsI’ve put a new column up at Forbes this morning, “Barclays Manipulates Libor While Auditor PwC Snoozes.”
The Barclays Libor manipulation scandal is a big deal and we haven’t yet seen the full impact here in the U.S. The Chairman of the bank resigned officially this morning and the interim Chairman is none other than our old friend Sir Mike Rake, former Global Chairman of KPMG.
Big Four Auditors and Jury Trials: Not In The U.S.
/19 Comments/in Audit Quality, BDO, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, Latest, PCAOB, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, The Case Against The Auditors, The FirmsYou have to go outside of the US to see a trial of a Big Four audit firm to know what I’m talking about. Australia’s Centro case against PwC or Canada’s Nortel case where Deloitte partners testified recently tell you everything you need to know about why the Big Four will settle every time. Rather than have a jury and the public hear and see the pathetic state of the audit profession, its inability to stop executives who want to cheat, and its unwillingness to acknowledge liability as a firm when it screws up, the firms will reach into their seemingly bottomless pockets and pay up.
Not Much Illumination: JP Morgan, MF Global & Man in the Middle, Jamie Dimon
/7 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsWhat I wrote this week about the MF Global trustee’s “investigation report”, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and his testimony on the “whale” trade for the US Senate, and the lure of London. Those topics and so much more…
New York’s Carolyn Maloney More Focused On Politics Than Investors
/4 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsWith Democrats like Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, who needs the Republicans? When special interests pursue self-interested legislation or seek to block legislation that affects their interests Maloney is ready to wave the jobs and economic growth flag for her campaign contributors rather than looking out for investors.
Groupon: You Must Have Fallen From The Sky
/23 Comments/in Audit Quality, Fraud, Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsI expect the auditors to earn their fees by looking out for investors. But maybe that’s just pie in the sky.
Are Auditors Reporting Fraud And Illegal Acts? The SEC Knows But Isn’t Telling
/8 Comments/in Attorney-Client Privilege, Independence, Latest, PCAOB, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsThere are still many unanswered questions about how and why the financial crisis frauds occurred. New frauds, such as the Chinese reverse merger frauds, took advantage of a public listing loophole that the SEC and auditors missed. All these investor losses occurred under the supposedly watchful eyes of auditors, who are paid dearly to protect shareholders but in many cases are either complicit, incompetent, or both.
At Deloitte, More Pain Before Any Quality Gain
/18 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, The Case Against The Auditors, The Firmsre: The Auditors has seen a confidential, internal Deloitte training document, prepared this past summer, that reveals the firm expects the worst when the inspection reports for their 2009, 2010, and 2011 audits are published by the PCAOB. Is Deloitte truly committed to a sea change in tone as well as technique? I’m not convinced.
MF Global: Where Is The Missing Money?
/10 Comments/in Fraud, Latest, MF Global, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, The Case Against The AuditorsAlmost everyone wondering where the missing MF Global customer assets have gone thinks they will show up eventually. I believe the assets are long gone.