Are All Big Four Partners Evil Or Just Leadership? Pondering The Problem of Evil

How do professionals forget what’s right and wrong? Adolf Eichmann was a “new type of criminal, who is actually hostis generic humani . . . [and] commits his crimes under circumstances that make it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he is doing wrong.”

Featured In Eric Jackson’s 2014 “Sleeper” Tips And Trends At Forbes

I’ve been a part of Eric Jackson’s annual “picks” post for Forbes for the last few years. Take a look at my “sleeper ideas” for 2014.

Niblets

Stories that get stuck in your teeth.

New In Chicago Booth’s Capital Ideas Magazine: Big Four To Big Three

Could the audit industry, which thrives on a government mandate that subsidizes an oligopolistic business model, survive if we went, catastrophically, from four to three global firms?

Top Finance Bloggers in Chicago According to Crain’s

I’m very proud to have been included in the Crain’s Chicago Business list of top local finance bloggers.

Be Skeptical — Reporters Caught Not Fact-Checking Private Company Numbers

“Auditor-turned-journalist Francine McKenna, writing at Medium, has some cautionary advice for journalists on reporting unaudited and unverified financial information.”

Nothing SOx-y About SEC’s JP Morgan “Whale” Settlement

If the JP Morgan “Whale” settlement was a true Sarbanes-Oxley success story, we’d see some bank executives going to jail. For a change.

Updated Review of Connaughton’s “The Payoff”

An updated review of Jeff Connaughton’s great book from last year, “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins” over at Medium.com and some more books to read before summer’s over.

On Herbalife And The Slow Death Of Value Investing

Big egos making shares move by waving their wands. That makes picking stocks based on fundamental analysis more than slightly anachronistic. A bit about Herbalife…

Cosmology Themes in Modern Literary Fiction

This is the final paper from my first University of Chicago MLA class, “The New Cosmology”. There are some recommendations for summer reading if you are interested in literary science fiction. (As if I didn’t have enough writing to do…)

Unfrugal, Lawbreaking CEOs and Auditor Reputation: New At University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Two new blog posts at University of Chicago Booth School of Business Capital Ideas blog. One is about public company CEOs who buy luxury items and break the law and the other is about auditor reputation. Now I need an example of a thrice-married and divorced audit partner with a gambling or drug addiction who owns a Ferrari and a private jet…

McKenna Writes For Accountancy On Offshore Profit Shifting By Multinationals

Multinationals are under increasing scrutiny for income shifting and offshoring profits. I reported on the issues and U.S. legislative status in December in Accountancy, a magazine for the profession in the UK.