My take on the latest at the PCAOB and KPMG
In Episode 449 of the FCPA Compliance Report, I spoke with Tom Fox to discuss the current status of the KPMG defendants and what their conduct means for the audit profession going forward.
Posts
An SEC Fine for KPMG in the PCAOB Data Theft Scandal and Another Horrible Revelation
/2 Comments/in Audit Quality, Featured, KPMG, Latest, Pure Content“Innovation demands risk-taking… which, in turn, entails redefining failure, stripping away its power to inhibit.” Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lynne Doughtie
McKenna On Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and Kraft Heinz
/2 Comments/in Deloitte, Food for Thought, Pure ContentHas Warren Buffett run out of long-run? The stars aligned and Warren Buffett issued an annual shareholder letter that was forced to include an embarrassing charge for significant losses on Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Kraft Heinz. Buffett’s letter was a rant against GAAP, and a 180 degree turn from his typical long-term focus. I was in New York […]
Do Investors Care At All About Audits Anymore?
/in Food for Thought, Pure ContentWould investors still pay for an audit if it weren’t legally mandated? Are regulators and exchanges perpetuating a government-mandated oligopolistic exclusive franchise for the Big 4 and a few additional firms that produces information investors now ignore?
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
Revenue Recognition is Coming: Part 2
/in Food for Thought, Pure ContentI’ve been coaching my colleagues on how to spot updates and interesting anecdotes about revenue recognition during the second quarter earnings season. Now we are catching up on the Qs filed and comparing disclosures after concentrating on what was said in earnings releases and calls.
Revenue Recognition is Coming: Following the Progress at MarketWatch
/in Food for Thought, Pure ContentOnce I returned from my Stigler Center fellowship I got to work catching up on the new standard, talking to experts everywhere and working with Audit Analytics to come up with the data to support stories–by my and my colleagues–about companies and their response to the new standard. My goal was to pick some of the obscure topics that were unique or focused on a specific industry.
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.
At the Stigler Center Pro-Market Blog: Big 4 Lobbies Against SOx
/in Audit Firm Management, Audit Quality, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, Writing for OthersThe last time anyone attempted to “modernize” auditor independence rules it was the Securities and Exchange Commission, in 2000, before the Enron failure and Arthur Andersen’s demise, as a result of the growing concern that firms increasing focus on consulting was distracting them for their core purpose, auditing. The Big Four firms are now opportunistically lobbying to go back in time, before Enron, when the industry was self-regulated and mostly left alone, able to have as many conflicts of interest as their powerful public clients would allow.
More on KPMG and the Precedents for Possible Punishment
/in Featured, The Case Against The AuditorsWhy did they do it? The WSJ walks around the question but KPMG may face big fines and, I think, its partners and the PCAOB professional could face criminal charges.
KPMG Takes Its Turn With a Big 4 -Sized Scandal
/1 Comment/in Madoff, Pure Content, Your CareerThe KPMG/PCAOB scandal is neither the first or last time a Big 4 firm reminded us that there’s nothing special anymore about being a Big 4 firm professional The firms, and their partners, are not capitalist eunuchs, immune from perverse incentives that advocates for free markets say, if big enough, can corrupt anyone.
A Happy Story About Housing
/in Pure ContentMy MarketWatch colleague Andrea Riquier took a field trip to Indiana earlier this year on a tip about a group that helps people struggling to get their act together and prepare for home ownership. It’s a nice thing to see, given all the ongoing struggles many still have with jobs, finances and the challenges of this economy, especially in the heartland.