Jeff Connaughton’s “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins” – A Book Review
Jeff Connaughton’s new book, “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins”, is a must read during the Presidential election season.
A Book Review: Models.Behaving.Badly. By Emanuel Derman
/1 Comment/in Writing for OthersOne of the wonders of Twitter is the people you meet. You can write the tool off as talk, talk but it’s been a wonderful window to new worlds for me. People I would have never imagined knowing are in my life because we can gauge common interests passively. Which interests you reveal are entirely […]
McKenna Now Writing At American Banker
/4 Comments/in Audit Firm Management, Audit Quality, Bear Stearns, Independence, Partner Compensation, PCAOB, Writing for OthersI’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.
CNBC’s Cramer Spits Into Wind On Clawbacks Of Fraudulent Bonuses
/in Pure Content, Writing for OthersCNBC’s JIm Cramer went off this week on the JP Morgan Securities settlement with the SEC. In his mind, someone, everyone got off too easy. It’s a familiar lament.
@ Accountancy Age: An Opinion Piece On The US Audit Reform Debate
/3 Comments/in Writing for OthersI’ve written an opinion piece for Accountancy Age comparing the auditor reform debate in the US – what there is – to the active debate in the UK. Here’s an excerpt: In the US, the Big Four leadership is noticeably absent from any public conversation of audit or audit industry reform. It’s hard enough for […]
Birds On A Wire: How Do The Firms Get The Word Out?
/1 Comment/in Audit Firm Management, Pure Content, Writing for OthersThis article was originally published on GoingConcern.com October 7, 2009. It’s been a while since an update on the PwC/Satyam fraud for re: The Auditors. Rest assured, it’s all still a big problem for PwC. Their partners are still in jail but the wheels of Indian justice turn slowly. I did receive reports that India’s […]
It’s Only Money: How PwC Got Jammed Up On The AHIP Report
/3 Comments/in Writing for OthersThis post was originally published in GoingConcern.com on October 14, 2009. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Analyze a few numbers for an insurance industry lobby and write a report. I suspect this was, at most, a $150k engagement. Small change. But that’s what trusted advisors do. Come, panting, when called. Help […]
Nowhere To Hide: Ernst & Young Looking At More Civil Liability For Lehman Failure
/14 Comments/in Food for Thought, Writing for OthersThe mainstream media (MSM) is now paying attention to the Big 4 – Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young.
The financial crisis is now about accounting fraud.
Every two-bit journalist and blogger on the business beat is spitting out stories to keep up and one-up each other. It’s not every day that the accounting firms provide so much gossip about spectacular criminal and civil penalties. Well, actually, it is every day.
Let Me Tell You A Funny Story: Lehman’s Repo 105 Accounting
/12 Comments/in Food for Thought, Writing for OthersWhen a new batch of Ernst & Young auditors arrived at Lehman Brothers each year, Repo 105 transactions must have caused debate. After all, a transaction that’s called a “Repo,” short for “repurchase”, but that’s actually recorded on the books as a sale, is a little odd. It may have even quacked.
@Forbes: Forget Everyone Else – Why Aren’t Auditors Answering For Financial Crisis?
/4 Comments/in Audit Quality, Pure Content, Writing for OthersSome may say that tweaking New York Times reporters to make a point about auditor liability, especially one so prominent such as Andrew Ross Sorkin, may not be a great career move. But then you’re assuming my idea of a “career” is yours. I call them as I see them, and the two blog posts in […]
@Forbes: More GM IPO and Less Litigation Disclosure
/in Pure Content, Writing for OthersMy Forbes column appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Go here to read, Accounting Watchdog. Columns for the week ending November 19, 2010: GM’s Gigantic IPO: Investors Bet An Old Dog Can Do New Tricks FT Alphaville reports this morning that, “President Barack Obama said the IPO marked a ‘milestone in the turnaround of not just […]
@Forbes: Immigration and the Big 4, Fannie and Freddie Must Go
/in Pure Content, Writing for OthersMy Forbes column appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Go here to read, Accounting Watchdog.
Columns for the week ending November 12, 2010: