An SEC Fine for KPMG in the PCAOB Data Theft Scandal and Another Horrible Revelation
“Innovation demands risk-taking… which, in turn, entails redefining failure, stripping away its power to inhibit.” Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lynne Doughtie
Posts
Amazon and taxes, oh my!
/in Featured, Food for ThoughtJeff Bezos has bigger problems than the Queens pull-out and criticism of Amazon’s taxes. He may want to wipe that smug look off his face. Photo from Forbes. Amazon backed out of its selection of Queens, NY as a location for a new headquarters this week. It was a big story, revolving around new […]
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?
MarketWatch 2018 Stories That Packed A Punch
/in Food for ThoughtA wrap-up of my writing in 2018 on three topics I’d been following that reached a climax last year — Theranos, FDIC v. PwC and KPMG/PCAOB inspection data theft— and three more where my reporting resulted in a legal or regulatory impact on the companies—ADT, Symantec, and IGC.
Update: KPMG: Whittle and Holder Plead Guilty
/in Featured, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsKPMG partner Thomas Whittle broke ranks on October 29 and pleaded guilty to all five criminal charges. He is now cooperating with prosecutors. Do you have more information about this case? Leave a comment here, one I can leave unposted, if you wish to communicate confidentially or DM me on Twitter @retheauditors for Signal encrypted confidential messaging instructions.
A Requiem for Independent Audits: The Last Days of Theranos
/in Audit Quality, The Case Against The AuditorsLooks like the Theranos investors decided that audits are worthless, even if the cost is some “immaterial to them” fraud losses.
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.
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.