Laboring In The Big 4 – A Labor Day Special Report
By Francine • Aug 31st, 2012Is this really the way to run a professional services firm?
Author Archive
Blogging – My Religion
By Francine • Aug 30th, 2012So, if you’ve ever wanted to put your stuff out there, tell your story, be judged on what you know, not what box you may have found yourself in…
Just do it. It’s not hard. It’s pretty forgiving. It’s neat.
Madoff, MLK, Buddha And Elusive Nature of Self-Interest
By Francine • Jan 16th, 2012Your first obligation as a professional is to your client, not your firm, your partners, or even your family.
The Legacy of Arthur Andersen
By Francine • Dec 2nd, 2011Yesterday, The Financial Times asked me to comment on the Enron anniversary. Last week, it was the Houston Chronicle. So Arthur Andersen’s demise is ten years behind us. Today, I re-post one of my first, from October 13, 2006, which presents my thoughts from that time. As I re-read it today, how little has truly [...]
Falling In Line
By Francine • Nov 24th, 2011This post is reprinted from Thanksgiving Day 2008, November 27.
Every once and a while I have to take off my re: The Auditors hat and put on the fancy dress of a typical member of a large urban, Catholic, ethnic, up-from-the-working-class family.
We celebrate the traditional holidays like anyone else although, like anyone else, they [...]
Hello? Big 4? Are You Out There?
By Francine • Oct 22nd, 2011This post was originally published three years ago on September 17, 2008. Given everything that is going on – ongoing investigation of EY’s role in Lehman collapse, more lawsuits against the Big 4 audit firms for crisis failures, disclosure of Deloitte’s failings as an auditor as far back as 2006 – I thought it may [...]
Looking For Talent? Steal From Your Competitors
By Francine • Sep 5th, 2011This was originally posted September 6, 2007. Not much has changed since then. Not much varies for the Big Four member firms all over the world. Regulators, please note: This is the level of responsibility- the level of expectations – for non-management staff.
Quite significant.
I ran across this recruiting ad for PwC Belgium while looking [...]
Embracing Change – Day by Day
By Francine • Mar 31st, 2011I often think of my career as having had at least four parts, so far…
HBOS, KPMG and Their Problematic Whistleblower
By Francine • Dec 5th, 2010KPMG, external auditors for HBOS, were front and center in the controversy over written testimony from Paul Moore, HBOS’ former head of regulatory risk and a former KPMG partner. A guest posting on February 19, 2009 over at The Financial Times’ FT Alphaville blog.
Taking Your Pulse
By Francine • Sep 20th, 2010The Top Searches these past twenty-four hours. Quite a wide variety and pretty sophisticated…
Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) has more than twenty-five years of experience in consulting and professional services including tenure at two Big 4 firms, both in the US and abroad. Look for my column, 