McKenna Now Writing At American Banker
By Francine • Sep 16th, 2011I’m writing now for American Banker. My first column covers a new appointment at Deloitte and how this might affect the firm’s clients in the mutual funds industry.
Archive for the ‘Audit Quality’ Category
New @Forbes: Bank of America Plays Hide And Seek Using Fannie Mae
By Francine • Aug 11th, 2011Making the non-obvious connections between the audit firms and their clients, between the clients and each other, and between the firms and each other is getting to be like shooting fish in a barrel.
New at Forbes: My Comments On The Latest Sanctions Against Ernst & Young
By Francine • Aug 3rd, 2011As if Ernst & Young didn’t have enough to worry about now they’ve got a public airing of some dirty laundry by the PCAOB.
Ernst & Young Lehman Litigation: It’s No Victory If You’re Going To Trial
By Francine • Jul 29th, 2011It wasn’t even a verdict. Just a decision by New York Federal Court Judge Lewis Kaplan in one of the Lehman failure cases Ernst & Young is fighting. A decision to allow substantially all of the allegations against Lehman executives and at least one of the allegations against Ernst & Young to move forward to discovery and trial. That is, if there’s not a settlement first.
Going In Circles: A Few Remarks On Audit Reform
By Francine • Jul 14th, 2011Don’t get me wrong.
I’m thrilled that there’s a lot of traffic in my lane. What I mean is, it’s good for everyone that we’re talking about these issues and that someone other than me and a few other broken records are playing these tunes.
Making Mortgage Fraudsters Pay…But Via Private Lawsuits (And Some Attorneys General) Not Law Enforcement
By Francine • Jul 5th, 2011Thank goodness for the plaintiffs’ bar and class action lawsuits. And state attorneys general. Without them, there’d be very little justice yet – or compensation – for any of the mortgage-related fraud perpetrated during the real estate bubble.
Not Over Until It’s Over: Price Waterhouse India Settles Satyam
By Francine • Apr 11th, 2011It’s the potential for sudden conflagrations in developing countries that keeps the global audit firms – PwC in this case – up at night. The legal quagmires in developed countries are messy, too. PwC may want to put the Satyam scandal behind them but, unfortunately, I fear there’s still much more pain for the firm to come.
@Forbes “Auditors Abandon Investors On Liability Limits”
By Francine • Mar 13th, 2011Tammy Whitehouse over at Compliance Week does a thorough job on the largest audit firms and their fear of catastophic litigation. Yes, they’re admitting it – Tammy says they’re pleading with legislators – and fighting any legislative urges to open more avenues for lawyers and their clients to sue them.
The Dodd-Frank Act gave the Securities and [...]
@Forbes: Forget Everyone Else – Why Aren’t Auditors Answering For Financial Crisis?
By Francine • Dec 11th, 2010Some may say that tweaking New York Times reporters to make a point about auditor liability, especially one so prominent such as Andrew Ross Sorkin, may not be a great career move. But then you’re assuming my idea of a “career” is yours.
I call them as I see them, and the two blog posts in the [...]
The Perils Of Pre-Inspection File Polishing
By Francine • Dec 6th, 2010Ever wondered what it would be like to see your name in print? Most auditors do not aspire to seeing their name in the papers. It’s a career-limiting move to be cited in a bankruptcy examiner’s report or a disciplinary order issued by the PCAOB.
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, 