Posts

One Way Or Another: The SEC Versus The Chinese Big Four Firms

SEC Administrative Judge Cameron Elliot issued a blistering decision last week in a long-running dispute over regulator access to auditor work papers in fraud investigations. The judge banned the Chinese Big Four firms from auditing US issuers for six months and lambasted them for voluntarily putting their firms “between a rock and a hard place.” The decision is not yet final but the enormous impact is already being felt worldwide.

$99 Million Buys EY Ticket Out Of Private Lehman Litigation, Finally

Last defendant standing. Not an enviable place for EY in the case, In re Lehman Brothers Securities and Erisa Litigation. Holding out until the end has now cost EY $99 million, more than Lehman officers and directors.

McKenna Writes For “Investor Advocate” From Law Firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman

BLBG publishes the Advocate for Institutional Investors, a quarterly newsletter which contains reporting and analysis of the latest securities and corporate law issues. The Advocate often features articles by the management and general counsel of some of the largest public pension funds in the country, as well as some of the nation’s premier securities litigators. This Spring the magazine also features my writing on the subject of private litigation against audit firms.

Video Posted: McKenna Speaks At AAA-Accounting Program Leaders Group Annual Meeting

I’m in San Diego at the Accounting Program Leaders Group/Federation of Schools of Accountancy annual seminar. I spoke Sunday on the profession and its professionals.

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.)

Former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair On Foreclosure Lookback Reviews

Chapter 21 of Sheila Bair’s book, “Bull By The Horns,” is a blow-by-blow account of the wrangling and dealmaking that resulted in two settlements that satisfy neither consumer advocates nor the borrowers that were harmed by abusive mortgage servicer activities.

The Bailout of AIG: Mission Accomplished?

Did the government make a profit on its sale of AIG shares last week? Is that even the right question to ask? The former Special Inspector General of TARP Neil Barofsky and I think it’s not.

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.

Not Much Illumination: JP Morgan, MF Global & Man in the Middle, Jamie Dimon

What I wrote this week about the MF Global trustee’s “investigation report”, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and his testimony on the “whale” trade for the US Senate, and the lure of London. Those topics and so much more…

What Is A Corporate Secretary And Why Am I A Panelist At Their Annual Meeting?

I’m a panelist July 12 for, “Auditors, the Board and Shareholders: An Evolving Relationship,” at the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals Annual Meeting in Washington DC.

Auditor Rotation and Banks: If It Makes You Happy…

My 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…