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
Another Update on the Case of FDIC v PricewaterhouseCoopers re: Colonial Bank
/in Fraud, Independence, Internal Audit, Latest, MF Global, PCAOB, Pure Content, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsOn February 28 the US Justice Department fined Deloitte & Touche LLP $149.5 million for alleged fraud against the government related to its role as the independent outside auditor of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. Also: The damages phase of the FDIC v. PwC case regarding Colonial Bank is set to begin in Washington DC on March 20.
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.
The SEC vs. The PCAOB and Jim Doty: Impasse or Détente?
/1 Comment/in Administration, Audit Firm Management, Audit Quality, Liability Caps, Partner Compensation, You Can Quote Me On ThatJim Doty’s term as chairman of the PCAOB, the audit regulator, expired in October. All summer since I arrived in Washington D.C., leading up to that date and since, there’s been speculation about whether or not SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White would reappoint him to the job.
Failure to Earn: What Scattershot Enforcement of Sarbanes-Oxley Clawbacks Tells Us About Paybacks Under Dodd-Frank
/in Food for ThoughtI wrote at MarketWatch about the SEC’s proposed Dodd-Frank clawback rule.
PCAOB’s Franzel Speaks to AAA; Are Auditors’ ICFR Opinions Just “Busy-Work”?
/1 Comment/in Audit Quality, Partner Compensation, The Case Against The AuditorsAuditor opinions on ICFR are not only not being done well, they are not producing warnings for investors and regulators that a material error and restatement is likely. Worse than that, when auditors get them wrong they whitewash their mistakes.
When Auditors Get Mixed Up In M&A, Smaller Clients Get Hurt
/in Independence, Latest, Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsA new study says smaller public companies are paying a premium for the prestige of a Big Four auditor but the auditors are dangling small clients as chum for their large acquisitive shark audit clients.
“Tax Avoidance On An Industrial Scale” Says British MP About PwC’s Luxembourg Work For AIG And Others
/in Independence, Latest, Pure Content, The Big 4 And ConsultingBritish MP Margaret Hodge grilled Kevin Nicholson, of PwC’s UK tax practice, in a Parliament Public Accounts Committee hearing on Monday. You know you’re on your “back foot” when the first thing out of your mouth has to be a denial that you lied under oath. More details about PwC’s tax avoidance scheme for audit client and US government owned AIG.
Piling Up For PwC
/in Audit Quality, Independence, KPMG, Liability Caps, PCAOB, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pure Content, Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsUpdate: The PCAOB is investigating PwC for its tax avoidance advice to Caterpillar, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. One down, more than 100+ PwC audit clients advised via Luxembourg to go…