The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Dodd-Frank’s clawback provision both require a restatement. The restatement of financial results to correct material errors – whether those errors occurred by default or by design – is a necessary condition for enforcing both the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 304 provision and the new Dodd-Frank law.
Going Concern reported yesterday that KPMG professionals have been ordered to preserve all correspondence and documentation related to the tax “loaned staff” assignment it has with long-time client GE. That means someone – the SEC or PCAOB – is investigating.
Making the non-obvious connections between the audit firms and their clients, between the clients and each other, and between the firms and each other is getting to be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Thank goodness for the plaintiffs’ bar and class action lawsuits. And state attorneys general. Without them, there’d be very little justice yet – or compensation – for any of the mortgage-related fraud perpetrated during the real estate bubble.
I was quoted on May 2 in an article in American Banker by Alex Ulam entitled, “Why Second-Lien Loans Remain A Worry”. My quote focused on disclosures and transparency – for the loans and the reserves for losses. It’s a subject I’ve written about extensively.
Here’s the speech and slides I used for the AAA Public Interest Conference on April 1-2 and Top X list of possible research topics for accounting and audit academics interested in public policy.
I’ll be at the American Accounting Association Midwest Conference in Columbus, Ohio May 12-14. I’m on a panel to discuss the audit firm model and will take questions at a separate session. Hope to see you there.
If you would like me to speak for your group, please email me at fmckenna@mckennapartners.com
The SEC has accused one of the most prominent businessmen ever implicated in such crimes, Rajat Gupta, a former McKinsey & Company Global Managing Director, of insider trading. It’s understandable that, in the heat of this moment, some might naïvely compare the consequences of the criminal indictment of an audit firm with civil charges against an individual, albeit one who trades on – pun intended – his association with a prestigious professional services firm. It’s not the same thing.
This article was originally published at GoingConcern.com on March 3, 2010. Most don’t wear stilettos, although Cynthia Cooper is fairly attractive for a blond. Harry Markopolos, the Madoff “hero” whose new book is out is being called a whistleblower. I do not see him really warming up to that label or really warming up at […]
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOx) made law what is best practice for all public companies or companies that issue public debt. That includes “smaller” companies.
I was asked by Accountancy Magazine in the UK to write a summary of the Compliance Week Annual Conference for their readers. This article, entitled “Regulatory Reformation,” can be found here. Please let me know what you think.
The “victims” of the Bernie Madoff scandal are not taking their losses laying down. Why are so many suits suddenly being brought against the auditors of the funds that invested on behalf of their clients in the Madoff funds?
Both are accused of being corrupt. One gentleman has been under a cloud of suspicion for a while. He’s denied it and dared prosecutors to wiretap his conversations, to come and get him. He hid his activities in plain site. As visible as a major state Governor has to be, he also kept a low […]
