Absolutely true, and it validates any amount of self-promotion to get the word out when traditional outlets aren’t cutting it.

Great post, I’ll have more to say after I give it a more thorough read.

The “fraud is increasing story” is hollow. We’ve seen fraud before and we’ve seen plenty of fraud in the years since Sarbanes-Oxley and the supposed heightened focus on it by both companies and their advisors. Just look at the growth of the firms’ investigations practices to look at stock options backdating and FCPA. Ok, someone will split hairs and tell me that was not technically fraud but compliance but the reason some are going to jail is that there was fraud against shareholders by not complying.

I will fix reference to Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

And yes, there was a strong element of self-promotion here but also a lot of other content and opinion. I’ve worked more than twenty-five years in the business and I do know what I know. And yes, I can’t for the life of me figure out why Crain’s, of all organizations, has not taken advantage of that, even now after I have reached out. Hell, the blog itself is not what it is without me, a person behind it. And it can’t meet my objectives if I do not promote myself and the content I can provide. I try to make a living to further my objectives. It’s why I’m here. I work to write. I’m making that pretty clear.

Yes, journalists are competing for content, so why ignore so much of it when I provide it more or less for free? I am readily available to journalists and have spent plenty of time educating them about the industry and they me about the media business, for mutual benefit. I write for money and I act as a subject matter expert for them without compensation. Which happens when is now mostly my choice.
Francine

the reader needs to sort out what is rumor building on various blogs versus news — unfortunately, the society seems to catch on to rumor rather than news these days

second, i believe it is the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, rather than Society (for future reference)

As you know, there is a sense that with the cuts in monitoring/compliance and auditing budgets by MNCs as one of the reactions to the crisis, and with additional pressures on emerging markets to produce results at these MNCs, there will be fraud to investigate in the future. Companies have cut back on services (i.e., let’s just get a statutory audit this year in XX market rather than a full service audit) not just audit services, but also outsourcing internal audit, compliance visits, etc. As a result, it is reasonable to assume that fraud could pop up in the future. The high rotation in IA in many MNCs coupled with fewer visits due to cost cutting contribute to this environment unfortunately. So, auditors may be in a situation in the future where they may have a client who has a fraud in a division/area where the auditor didn’t perform services because a local firm was hired to perform statutory services.

As far as a story, perhaps it would be interesting to contrast the services and metrics of a publicly held consulting services firm versus a big 4.

This article rings of a bit of personal PR promoting (i.e., call me because I know what I am talking about and the desire to be validated by Crain’s)– the very thing you are criticizing others of doing. As you know, many media outlets are struggling these days for content as advertising dollars are stretched as well during the crisis. Journalists are competing for content.

I’m experimenting with video. Check out this video interview http://retheauditors.com/2009/08/29/mckenna-interviewed-by-misstrades-matt-davio/

and stay tuned for my weekly show on Stocktwits.TV coming later this year.

Francine

PS. Thanks!

Thanks for the quick reaction…

I guess if Joe Nocera is taking some time off I need to stick around a while so I can help fill the void. He’s one of the good guys and covers the topics we’re interested in well. On the other hand, a great journalist writing the book that I’m meant to write because they can take a paid book leave is what I’ve been afraid of…

Recording the content is a great option. I need to find the right mini-tapeee . Certainly anyone who knows in person me will tell you that when you wind me up it’s hard to turn me off. Might as well make it productive.

The time will come. And in the meantime I will keep on truckin’.

Francine

Great post, covers a lot of ground on the changing landscape between media, new media, and what some may call ‘new, new media’ or ’social media.’

Also very interesting regarding the issue of subject matter experts vis-a-vis journalists. (Expanding on this concept, perhaps, is the question of the extent to which professional (and/or ‘degreed’) journalists become subject matter experts (e.g., accounting, law, etc.) and vice versa.)

Regarding your upcoming book, (which I look forward to reading) you say, “I will write the book. When? I’m not sure. Whenever I can afford to take the time off.”

I guess it is not unusual for writers to take sabbaticals to write a book; just yesterday NYT’s Joe Nocera wrote: “There comes a time in the life of every book writer when he or she has to stop procrastinating and write the darn book. For me, that painful moment has arrived; this is going to be my last column for a while.”

I think your blog has a large following, in part, because it fits so naturally into the medium of blogging with its related intimacy and immediacy, and I’d hate to see you disappear from the blogging scene even for a brief period to write your book; maybe some other options would help you do both. For example, I think its great you have some occasional guest writers and I don’t think your audience would mind, as long as you are overseeing from an editorial point of view.

Another possibility is for you to get someone to transcribe your thoughts for you, (with respect to your book) e.g. if someone interviews you or simply transcribes stream of consciousness tapes that you record, (almost writing a book from tape, vs. reading a book on tape), that may be a way to help with your book (which should perhaps go direct to screenplay anyway, from what I’ve seen in your blog!)

Looking forward to seeing you in NYC at FEI’s CFRI conference!