Author Archive

Journalism Leadership and the Peter Principle: A Guest Post From Eric Starkman

By Francine • Mar 12th, 2010

Mainstream journalism is in desperate need of radical visionaries, yet the industry continues to be led by people who are part of the problem rather than a source for the solution. Is there any other business where failure and myopia is so frequently and handsomely rewarded? If ever there was a single industry that illustrates the concept behind The Peter Principle, today’s mainstream media is it.


@Going Concern “Accountants In The Modern World”

By Francine • Mar 10th, 2010

My new column is up @Going Concern.com
“…I don’t envy today’s professors trying to teach the old-fashioned accounting skills in the electronic environment – closing checklists, regular balance sheet reconciliations, journal entry sign-offs, backup documentation requirements, managerial review of financial statements, and proper reviews and approvals of estimates and analytics. These are the Sarbanes-Oxley and the [...]


In Pari Delicto: Are Auditors Equally At Fault In The Big Fraud Cases?

By Francine • Mar 9th, 2010

The way I see it, the in pari delicto doctrine is being used like a pair of needle nosed pliers by audit firm defense lawyers to diffuse the bomb – huge liability for some of the biggest frauds in history. The in pari delicto doctrine attempts to pull the auditors’ tails from the fire by excusing any of their guilty acts due to the approval of those acts by potentially equally guilty executives.


Rescheduled! A Special Career Program Sponsored By Chicago ISACA Chapter

By Francine • Mar 9th, 2010

Still time to register! ISACA Chicago Chapter is excited to welcome Career Coaches and Trainers Sara Schiffer, Kirsten Zalik and the Founder of the Social Media Club of Chicago, Barbara Rozgonyi, who will be presenting a series of sessions entitled – Managing Your Career in an Uncertain World.


Upcoming Speeches, Appearances and Conferences

By Francine • Mar 8th, 2010

I have some exciting appearances, speeches and conferences coming up this spring. I thought I would let you know where I’ll be, whom I’ll be with and what I’ll be doing.


@Going Concern “Whistleblowers Are Not Pretty”

By Francine • Mar 3rd, 2010

My new column is up @Going Concern.
Most don’t wear stilettos, although Cynthia Cooper is fairly attractive for a blond. Harry Markopolos, the Madoff “hero” whose new book is out is being called a whistleblower. I do not see him really warming up to that label or really warming up at all. He did admit that, [...]


Send Lawyers, Guns And Money… The Big 4 And Their Litigation

By Francine • Mar 2nd, 2010

The big lawsuits – the ones that accuse the firms of accounting malpractice or various federal securities law violations – have been chronicled ad infinitum. The accounting industry’s response to these threats is to ask for liability caps. As if we don’t have enough moral hazard in the financial system with “too big to fail,” the auditors want to institutionalize their insulation from accountability to their clients, the shareholders, with a policy of “too few to pay for their mistakes.”


@Going Concern: “You’re Hired. You’re Fired. Beware The Big 4 Boomerang”

By Francine • Feb 24th, 2010

My new column is posted @Going Concern.
There’s no profession more conflicted about employee retention versus alumni relations than the auditors. On the one hand, the largest audit firms have well-oiled recruiting machines.
Their uncanny ability to identify and sway candidates early is rivaled only by professional baseball’s success at finding talented Dominicans still swinging stalks of [...]


It’s Mine, Mine All Mine: Can Anyone Catch Lehman Stealing?

By Francine • Feb 22nd, 2010

Most of what’s been written about the financial crisis and firms that were forcibly acquired, bailed out, or that failed tends to focus on “fair value” as the feckless culprit.What are the auditors’ obligations with regard to clients’ fair value measurements and disclosures? Auditors do not determine fair values. Instead, their role is to, “test management’s fair value measurements and disclosures.” But that obligation is broader than just taking the word of the “masters of the universe.”


A Prisoner’s Dilemma: AIG and Goldman Sachs Game Each Other And PwC

By Francine • Feb 18th, 2010

I’ve never heard a specific explanation for how PwC could preside over a long running dispute between two of its most important global clients, a dispute that was material to at least one of them, obviously, that had the attention of its highest level partners, and not force a resolution based on consistent application of accounting standards sooner. I’ve been writing almost as long as I’ve been writing here that PwC should resign as AIG’s auditor. Is it not enough that PwC was clearly torn between two clients who held enormous financial sway and lost its independence and objectivity along the way?


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