Posts

My Big Fat Overrated CEO: McKenna On Dimon On The Keiser Report

I taped an episode of the Keiser Report last week while in New York. The focus was Jamie Dimon with a bit of MF Global thrown in for heat. Max Keiser, the host, asked me this question: Why does Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase still have a job?

Forbes Magazine: Lying With Numbers

The SEC is busy chasing Ponzi schemers and foreign bribers. But bogus accounting remains a bigger danger to the markets. (More links.)

re: The Auditors Is Six Years Old

The blog is meant to highlight, for you the reader, the broad-based influence the Big 4 have in business, politics and social policy. Their reach is only exceeded by their constant grasp.

At American Banker: Auditors Give Banks a Pass on Reserves

My column at American Banker last week focused on the latest PCAOB inspection report for KPMG. We’ve got three more “Big Four” inspections reports to come – Ernst & Young, Deloitte and PwC. Don’t be surprised if you see the same focus on loan loss and repurchase reserves and the same kinds of auditor deficiencies.

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.

Deloitte Partner and Chicago Native Suicide; Possible Link To Standard Chartered Mess

The family of a senior partner at Deloitte has called for answers after he apparently committed suicide days after the auditing firm was linked to the Standard Chartered Iran dollar trades scandal.

McKenna Appears On “Chicago Tonight” Talking About Business Ethics

I appeared July 17 on Chicago Tonight, a nightly news program produced by WTTW, Channel 11, the public television station in Chicago. The show is hosted by Phil Ponce, a very interesting guy who was really good at wrangling the three cats on this panel. I was joined by John Lothian and Professor Laura Pincus-Hartman of […]

Service Provider To Profit: Deloitte and Standard Chartered Bank

Based 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.

More Sarbanes-Oxley Anniversary Thoughts

The day my OpEd in the Financial Times was published, July 30, there were many other stories in other publications marking the occasion of Sarbanes-Oxley’s tenth anniversary. Most of them focused on the lack of prosecutions of CEOs and CFOs for false financial statement certification crimes.

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and The Big Announcement

The new CEO of Yahoo was already a sensation before she announced, three hours after Yahoo announced her new job, that she is six months pregnant. I waded into the conversation reluctantly.