Luxembourg Tax Leaks Put PwC On The Defensive
My latest column at Medium.com responds to PwC’s #LuxLeaks defenses: Illegal docs, legal advice. I also raise the obvious auditor independence issues which no one else is reporting.
Posts
New At Forbes Online: The Precarious Financial Position Of The New York Times
/in Latest, Pure Content, You Can Quote Me On ThatUpdate: This column was linked to by the NYT Public Editor! I published some New York Times numbers over at Forbes.com, “Time Is Running Short For The New York Times”, in anticipation of the company’s 3Q earnings announcement on October 30.
The Full Service Firm: McKenna Comments For Canada’s The Bottom Line On Legal Services
/in You Can Quote Me On ThatI’m quoted extensively in an October 2014 The Bottom Line piece on the Big Four expansion into full-fledged legal services.
Update: The Shoemaker’s Children… The Big Four And Their Own Broker-Dealers
/in Audit Quality, Writing for OthersDid you know that each of the Big Four audit firms and some of the next tier also run SEC-registered broker-dealers? You’ll never guess who audits them.
McKenna At Medium: Two New Columns For the Bull Market Collection
/in Writing for OthersI’m part of a group effort at Medium.com called “Bull Market”. The first two columns are about taxes—the inversionist avoidance kind and one corporation’s horrible allergy to them.
18-Year Old Anthony Canalungo Questions Herbalife, And PwC, On Exchange Rates
/2 Comments/in Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsAnthony Canalungo wrote a really interesting article about Herbalife’s financials in Venezuela. Three different MLM companies from the peer group in addition to Herbalife operating in Venezuela and all except for Herbalife are using SICAD 2. What else do these four firms have in common? Auditor PwC.
More On My Reuters Breakingviews Column: The Andersen Tax Name Grab
/2 Comments/in Pure ContentThe news that a tax consulting firm made up of ex-Andersen partners would take the Andersen name garnered much media attention, as you might expect. It says something—but maybe not what the firm’s partners think— that so many years after the destruction of Arthur Andersen by criminal indictment—thirteen years—so many people care.
Auditor Independence: Another Case of Misplaced Loyalty
/2 Comments/in Independence, PCAOB, Pure Content, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, The Case Against The AuditorsRyan Adams testified on behalf of PwC in an important court case. How can PwC be independent of Adam’s employer Marin Software, and Adams, the Financial Reporting Director at this newly public PwC-audited client company, if he’s testifying on PwC’s behalf in litigation that could impact PwC’s business model in California and, perhaps, nationally?
Big Four Takeovers Raise Concerns: McKenna Featured In The Bottom Line
/in The Big 4 And ConsultingThe August issue of The Bottom Line in Canada includes quite a few quotes and a nice color photo of me in a story about the wave of new consulting firm acquisitions by Big Four audit firms all over the world.
Auditors and the Financial Crisis: Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?
/4 Comments/in Pure Content, The Case Against The AuditorsThis is the text of my speech for the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference last Friday. The theme of this year conference was “The Institutional Foundation of Capitalism”. Our special session was entitled ‘The New Financial Architecture after Financial Crisis’.
SEC’s Final Pay Rules Coming Any Day: Will They Be Enough To Level Playing Field?
/3 Comments/in You Can Quote Me On ThatSenator Robert Menéndez [D-NJ], author of the Dodd-Frank pay ratio disclosure rule, didn’t take “not yet” for an answer when SEC Chair Mary Jo White testified before the Senate Banking Committee in late July a year ago. Menendez told White: “I’ve been waiting for several years now.” (Me, too!)
University of Chicago Booth Capital Ideas Magazine: Two New Articles
/1 Comment/in Latest, Pure Content, Writing for OthersI have two articles in the University of Chicago Booth Capital Ideas Magazine Summer 2014 issue. One is about bank monitoring of private company financials and the other is about bank stress test disclosure. Their cover story, “Think you’re not a racist?” is also worth a close read.