Taking Your Pulse
By Francine • Mar 8th, 2010The Top Searches these past few days. Any doubt what readers are worried about?
Author Archive
@Clusterstock Did KPMG Fudge Repurchase Risk Again?
By Francine • Sep 20th, 2009I wrote a post today, joining the discussion over at Clusterstock.com regarding Wells Fargo and their apparent lack of disclosure for various risks.
Did Wells Fargo’s Auditors Miss Repurchase Risk?
“How does the New Century situation and KPMG’s role in it remind me of Wells Fargo now? Well, in both cases, there’s no disclosure of the quantity [...]
@Going_Concern “If I Told You I’d Have To Shoot You…”
By Francine • Sep 9th, 2009My new post is up @Going_Concern.
“Bank of America (BAC) is in the news again today. The reason is one of my favorite subjects, attorney-client privilege. From the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) letter to Bank of America’s attorney, Lewis J. Liman:
“Bank of America’s indiscriminate invocation of the attorney-client privilege is hindering this Office… We cannot simply accept [...]
Investor Relations & Web 2.0
By Francine • Aug 21st, 2009Many companies are using Web 2.0 tools to aid in corporate communications and public relations. How many companies are using these tools for investor relations? In order to determine this, I looked at the top 100 Fortune companies’ investor relations Web sites.
re: The Auditors Would Like To…
By Francine • Aug 17th, 2009Please help me improve the site and target content and features as well as other activities to what you want and need. Please complete the following short survey. Thanks in advance for your support.
Click here to take the survey
All participants will be entered to win one of ten $10 Starbucks gift certificates.
Is A Big 4 Firm Buying BearingPoint?
By Francine • Mar 24th, 2009Update: 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.”
Looking Out For Me, Myself, And I
By Francine • Mar 15th, 2009There 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.
GM Better Off Bankrupt? A Rebuttal From Ron Silberstein
By Francine • Mar 12th, 2009A 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.
Audit Integrity Says, “I Dare You…” – Who Audits The 300 Worst Companies?
By Francine • Mar 10th, 2009In a press release today, Audit Integrity dares the 300 public traded corporations in the United States that they rate “Very Aggressive,” their worst rating, to use their new tool, RiskProfiler© , free of charge to pre-evaluate their next quarterly SEC filings. The idea is to identify vulnerability to negative events such as fraud, earnings restatements, restructuring, shareholder litigation and bankruptcy. As rated by Audit Integrity, these companies pose a higher systemic risk to stakeholders including investors, employees, creditors, regulators and, as recent events have proven, taxpayers.
There are some very interesting names on their list. Their 300 Worst companies represent the bottom 10% of the 8000+ listed companies, which includes US based and foreign private issuers. As you can imagine, there are plenty of financial services companies on the list, some surprises and, unfortunately, plenty of repeat offenders.
GM Better Off Bankrupt? My Opinion
By Francine • Mar 5th, 2009Ron Silberstein and I met on Twitter. Every day I meet more and more interesting people there, both virtually, for now, and in person as I did during my recent trip to Baltimore and Washington DC.
Ron is a Principal of Maddox Ungar Silberstein, PLLC a CPA firm in Michigan. He heads up their SEC and Franchisor audit departments. Ron saw a recent Tweet of mine on GM (there have been many) and responded with a contrary opinion. It made me realize that I should probably defend my opinions regarding a GM bankruptcy in a little more detail.
Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) has more than twenty years of experience in consulting and professional services including tenure at two Big 4 firms, both in the US and abroad. For more info, check the "About" page.