An SEC Fine for KPMG in the PCAOB Data Theft Scandal and Another Horrible Revelation
“Innovation demands risk-taking… which, in turn, entails redefining failure, stripping away its power to inhibit.” Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lynne Doughtie
New Stories about the KPMG-PCAOB Scandal
/in Audit Firm Management, Audit Quality, Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The Auditors“Innovation demands risk-taking… which, in turn, entails redefining failure, stripping away its power to inhibit.” Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lynne Doughtie
Another Update on the Case of FDIC v PricewaterhouseCoopers re: Colonial Bank
/in Fraud, Independence, Internal Audit, Latest, MF Global, PCAOB, Pure Content, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsOn February 28 the US Justice Department fined Deloitte & Touche LLP $149.5 million for alleged fraud against the government related to its role as the independent outside auditor of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. Also: The damages phase of the FDIC v. PwC case regarding Colonial Bank is set to begin in Washington DC on March 20.
Update: McKenna at the University of Chicago’s Stigler Center
/in Latest, Pure Content, Writing for OthersI’ve updated the post to point to some recent news about PwC and banks that failed in Ukraine and Spain… I returned to Washington D.C. and my job as a journalist at MarketWatch in late June, after almost three months as a Journalist in Residence at the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. My fellowship deliverable, in exchange for the opportunity to study with the researchers, was three posts for the Center’s Pro-Market blog on the state of the audit industry.
TBW Plan Trustee v. PwC: A Look at What Led To It and What’s Next
/in Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsHere’s a brief look at the TBW Plan Trustee v. PwC trial, what led to it and what’s next.
@MarketWatch: IEX Becomes an Exchange
/in Latest, Writing for OthersWord got out early that the SEC would approve IEX’s application to become a stock exchange on Friday the 17th. As usual, the leak traveled to the big media outlets earlier that week and then the rest of us waited for announcement from the SEC all day.
When Auditors Get Mixed Up In M&A, Smaller Clients Get Hurt
/in Independence, Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsA new study says smaller public companies are paying a premium for the prestige of a Big Four auditor but the auditors are dangling small clients as chum for their large acquisitive shark audit clients.
Auditors Can Be Whistleblowers: A Guest Post On Recent Developments In Whistleblower Case Law
/1 Comment/in Food for Thought, Latest, Pure ContentSeveral recent developments regarding auditor whistleblowers should be of interest to internal and external auditors and compliance professionals, whether they work for a public company or a professional services provider.
“Tax Avoidance On An Industrial Scale” Says British MP About PwC’s Luxembourg Work For AIG And Others
/in Independence, Latest, Pure Content, The Big 4 And ConsultingBritish MP Margaret Hodge grilled Kevin Nicholson, of PwC’s UK tax practice, in a Parliament Public Accounts Committee hearing on Monday. You know you’re on your “back foot” when the first thing out of your mouth has to be a denial that you lied under oath. More details about PwC’s tax avoidance scheme for audit client and US government owned AIG.
New At Forbes Online: The Precarious Financial Position Of The New York Times
/in Latest, Pure Content, You Can Quote Me On ThatUpdate: This column was linked to by the NYT Public Editor! I published some New York Times numbers over at Forbes.com, “Time Is Running Short For The New York Times”, in anticipation of the company’s 3Q earnings announcement on October 30.
You’ll Never Eat Lunch… A Review of “This Town” By Mark Leibovich
/in Food for Thought, Latest, Pure ContentMark Leibovich’s “This Town” is billed in the flap copy of the dust jacket as “a blistering, stunning —and often hysterically funny— examination of our ruling class’s incestuous ‘media industrial complex.’” Does anyone still eat lunch with him? In the new 24-7 news cycle, the half-life of any criticism of DC culture is about three days.
University of Chicago Booth Capital Ideas Magazine: Two New Articles
/1 Comment/in Latest, Pure Content, Writing for OthersI have two articles in the University of Chicago Booth Capital Ideas Magazine Summer 2014 issue. One is about bank monitoring of private company financials and the other is about bank stress test disclosure. Their cover story, “Think you’re not a racist?” is also worth a close read.