Archive for March, 2009

“Going Concern” Opinions – How Many? How Many More?

By Francine • Mar 30th, 2009

Back on January 4th, I published a post highlighting the lack of “going concern” opinions that had been issued by companies’ auditors during the prior eighteen months. Given the number of near failures, forced mergers, bailouts, and bankruptcies that occurred especially in the prior nine months, it was surprising that none of the auditors saw the warning signs in advance and saw fit to warn shareholders and other investors.

The financial crisis was not sudden, it just accelerated quickly once the match, the Lehman failure, was lit. But there had been many mile markers along the way and many of the biggest failures have been problem children for a long time.

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An Amazing Internship Opportunity – A Public Service Announcement For My Friends At Publicis

By Francine • Mar 29th, 2009

One of my best friends works for Publicis, the global media and communications company. She likes working for a French company. She talks to suave guys named Luc and Yves and JeanPaul every day. Right now she is on a month long tour to Milan and Madrid, reviewing financial controls in their accounting and financial organizations.

Nice work if you can get it.

She recently passed along this opportunity for a six month internship in their IT Infrastructure organization. In these uncertain times, I like this idea of a post-graduate, solid, paid internship in a world class company that intends to mentor the individual.

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Arthur Levitt Should Just Shut Up About AIG

By Francine • Mar 25th, 2009

My new piece is up at The Huffington Post. It should be read alongside yesterday’s story on Lynn Turner. If these two start selling out the shareholder and the ideals of the accounting profession in all of the mess of the financial crisis, who’s left?

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Is A Big 4 Firm Buying BearingPoint?

By Francine • Mar 24th, 2009

Update: March 24, 2009
Looks like I was right. Twice. See new comments posted overnight for more details and a copy of the email that went out to PwC employees announcing the deal.
Today’s Washington Post:

Consulting firm BearingPointappears to be near its end.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, said late last night that it had reached an agreement with several parties — including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte — to sell “substantially all of its businesses.”

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Turn, Turn, Turn – Turner Does About Face re: The Auditors

By Francine • Mar 24th, 2009

Lynn Turner recently spoke, with Conrad Hewitt and the New York Times’ Floyd Norris, on a panel discussion in New York [March 4] hosted by Pace University’s Lubin School of Business.

As reported in CFO.com, Turner made some surprising statements.

“…During the discussion, Turner disputed a suggestion from moderator Floyd Norris of The New York Times that the accounting profession should shoulder part of the blame for the financial crisis. Instead, he criticized the Financial Accounting Standards Board for writing rules enabling companies to inappropriately dump securitized assets into qualified special-purpose entities.

Actually, Turner said he gives credit to “practicing accountants” — financial-statement preparers and auditors — for overseeing a dramatic falloff in financial fraud cases compared to the years immediately following the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

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Experts in the Industry: Francine McKenna (50 of 45)

By Francine • Mar 19th, 2009

“One of the things I love about my friend, Francine McKenna, author of re: The Auditors, Using the Tools Instead of the Tools Using Me, is that she comes from “outside” the industry…Oh yeah, she also has a delicious sense of humor. Get ready to see it in action as she answers the five questions from the Experts [...]

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PricewaterhouseCoopers Case Is A Game Changer

By Francine • Mar 19th, 2009

No, I’m not talking about the BDO International case or the Deloitte Parmalat case, although those two are game changers too. In those cases, the audit firms may lose their ability to hide behind the “global network” model as a way to avoid liabilty for what happens to one of their satellites…What I’m talking about is a case that has been lightly publicized, except in its own world and in the local California environment. That case is Campbell v. PricewaterhouseCoopers. …the pattern and precedent, both legal and moral, that will be set will have a ripple effect throughout the accounting industry – all the firms, everywhere in the US.

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Why Bother Becoming A CPA? A Guest Post From Roger Philipp

By Francine • Mar 18th, 2009

Becoming a CPA enhances your earning potential and upward mobility over the course of your entire career. Can you afford not to become a CPA?

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Looking Out For Me, Myself, And I

By Francine • Mar 15th, 2009

There is at least one person who doesn’t have to worry about having a good job, at KPMG no less. Thomas Ray was the Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards for the PCAOB.

According to WebCPA:

Ray is joining KPMG as a partner in the firm’s department of professional practice in New York.

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GM Better Off Bankrupt? A Rebuttal From Ron Silberstein

By Francine • Mar 12th, 2009

A discussion with Ron Silberstein was the inspiration for my previous post on the question of a GM bankruptcy. Now he’s written a rebuttal. It’s reprinted here, in its entirety.

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