Groupon: You Must Have Fallen From The Sky
I expect the auditors to earn their fees by looking out for investors. But maybe that’s just pie in the sky.
Posts
Auditor Rotation and Banks: If It Makes You Happy…
/3 Comments/in Pure Content, The Big 4 And ConsultingMy column today at American Banker is about the PCAOB’s auditor rotation and auditor independence concept release and its impact on banks. My favorite lines are…
Are Auditors Reporting Fraud And Illegal Acts? The SEC Knows But Isn’t Telling
/8 Comments/in Attorney-Client Privilege, Independence, Latest, PCAOB, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsThere are still many unanswered questions about how and why the financial crisis frauds occurred. New frauds, such as the Chinese reverse merger frauds, took advantage of a public listing loophole that the SEC and auditors missed. All these investor losses occurred under the supposedly watchful eyes of auditors, who are paid dearly to protect shareholders but in many cases are either complicit, incompetent, or both.
The Risky Business of Being A Bank Chief Risk Officer
/6 Comments/in Fraud, Latest, Pure Content, You Can Quote Me On ThatIt’s difficult for me to imagine a new generation of systemically important financial services company CEOs without strong risk management experience. But the newly prominent role also gives shareholders, regulators, and the media an easy target for ridicule after a corporate stumble or failure.
How Do You Hide A Multibillion Dollar Loss? Accounting For The Olympus Fraud
/23 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, The Big 4 And GlobalizationI asked CPA and blogger Jim Ulvog to write a guest post on the Olympus scandal because he was the only one to explain it to me from an accounting perspective. An investigative report prepared by auditor Ernst & Young Shin Nihon – yes, the one that missed the fraud – is a scathing indictment of the company and others potentially complicit in the multi-year subterfuge.
Visit To James Madison University
/1 Comment/in Pure Content, Where I've BeenI had the pleasure of visiting James Madison University on November 15-16 to meet with faculty in the School of Accounting, some student groups and to speak at the Beta Alpha Psi Initiation Dinner.
Update: Mortgage Servicer Foreclosure Review Process
/4 Comments/in Attorney-Client Privilege, Bear Stearns, Deloitte, EY, Fraud, Independence, Latest, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Subprime, The Big 4 And ConsultingI was the first to report on December 6 the irony of Deloitte having been selected by, of all banks, JP Morgan Chase. The high likelihood of a conflict between the bank and the audit firm, and possibly the individual Deloitte partners assigned to the JP Morgan Chase review, should have been obvious to anyone at the OCC. It turns out I was right.
Servicing The Mortgage Industry: An Update
/1 Comment/in Pure Content, Subprime, The Big 4 And Consulting, The FirmsMy October 6 column for American Banker was cited by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and others to support the strong management of conflicts of interest by the OCC in the mortgage servicer reviews as well as full disclosure of vendors and their engagement letters with the banks. On November 22, 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) disclosed the names of the consultants, their clients and redacted versions of the engagement letters between the banks and consultants.
PCAOB Disclosure Of Deloitte Private Report: A Regulatory Inflection Point?
/4 Comments/in Audit Firm Management, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsMy American Banker column on Tuesday focused on the risks to banks, their audit committees, and shareholders of an auditor who blows off its regulator. Deloitte’s ongoing conflict with the PCAOB poses the risk of undue scrutiny by other regulators and unwanted publicity to all its clients.
Hello? Big 4? Are You Out There?
/45 Comments/in Pure Content, You Can Quote Me On ThatThis post was originally published three years ago on September 17, 2008. Given everything that is going on – ongoing investigation of EY’s role in Lehman collapse, more lawsuits against the Big 4 audit firms for crisis failures, disclosure of Deloitte’s failings as an auditor as far back as 2006 – I thought it may […]
Recent Comments On European and U.S. Audit Reform
/2 Comments/in Latest, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, The Case Against The AuditorsThe topic of audit industry reform is hot again. OK, that’s relative to where you stand on what’s hot. But in the world of legal and regulatory compliance and auditors the only thing hotter would be a significant development in the New York Attorney General’s case against Ernst & Young.
Top Ten Reasons You Still Want To Work For The Auditors
/7 Comments/in Pure Content, Your CareerCollege students are being wined, dined, and picked over by the large firms. The recruiting season is in full bloom. One of the most frequent searches leading to my blog is some variation on what to wear to the post-interview fancy restaurant dinner. As you go through the experience, remember: They’ve already established what you […]