Posts

The Problem Of An Audit Firm Market Exit: New Research From University of Chicago Booth School of Business

A post at University of Chicago Booth School of Business Capital Ideas blog discusses new research from Joseph Gerakos and Chad Syversen on the dangers of industry concentration in the event of a market exit by one of the large audit firms. For example, what if PwC, which audits five of the top ten global pharma companies ran into trouble amid the ongoing investigations of bribery of Chinese officials, in particular by PwC audit client GlaxoSmithKline and a few of its other audit clients?

E&Y, Their Audit Client Wal-Mart, and Value Pricing

This post about Ernst & Young’s aggressive tax advice to audit client Wal-Mart was originally posted October 29, 2007. It’s worth everyone – I’m talking to you SEC and PCAOB – taking another look at this given Wal-Mart’s new Mexican bribery problems and the SEC investigation of Ernst & Young for tax lobbying to audit clients. (Ernst & Young has been silent and left out of most media discussion about Wal-Mart’s FCPA problems in Mexico and elsewhere.)

McKenna At Georgia Southern Fraud and Forensic Accounting Conference

I spoke at the Georgia Southern University’s Center for Forensic Studies in Accounting and Business Sixth Annual Fraud and Forensic Accounting Conference at the Hilton Desoto, Savannah on May 15-17, 2012. My topic was “Auditors as ‘Whistleblowers’: The Auditors’ Responsibility to Report Fraud and Illegal Acts.”