• Archive for the ‘The Case Against The Auditors’ Category

    Interesting Disclosures During TBW v. PwC Pre-Trial Period

    By • Sep 26th, 2016

    The TBW v. PwC trial gave the public quite a few interesting disclosures about the audit industry and PwC, including some some pointing to how the firms’ finances, in this case PwC, work.


    Best Case Yet For Publishing Audit Partner Names: Grant Thornton’s Koeppel

    By • Dec 14th, 2015

    The PCAOB will vote on final rule based on its proposal on Tuesday Dec 15. If audit partner names were published in the audit report, or anywhere, the public, audit committees, investors and journalists could stop lousy auditors in their tracks. Melissa Koeppel of Grant Thornton is the best case yet for making audit partner names and their engagement history, disciplinary history, and litigation history public.


    PCAOB’s Franzel Speaks to AAA; Are Auditors’ ICFR Opinions Just “Busy-Work”?

    By • Aug 9th, 2015

    Auditor opinions on ICFR are not only not being done well, they are not producing warnings for investors and regulators that a material error and restatement is likely. Worse than that, when auditors get them wrong they whitewash their mistakes.


    When Auditors Get Mixed Up In M&A, Smaller Clients Get Hurt

    By • Feb 3rd, 2015

    A new study says smaller public companies are paying a premium for the prestige of a Big Four auditor but the auditors are dangling small clients as chum for their large acquisitive shark audit clients.


    Piling Up For PwC

    By • Nov 18th, 2014

    Update: The PCAOB is investigating PwC for its tax avoidance advice to Caterpillar, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. One down, more than 100+ PwC audit clients advised via Luxembourg to go…


    18-Year Old Anthony Canalungo Questions Herbalife, And PwC, On Exchange Rates

    By • Sep 23rd, 2014

    Anthony Canalungo wrote a really interesting article about Herbalife’s financials in Venezuela. Three different MLM companies from the peer group in addition to Herbalife operating in Venezuela and all except for Herbalife are using SICAD 2. What else do these four firms have in common? Auditor PwC.


    Auditor Independence: Another Case of Misplaced Loyalty

    By • Sep 2nd, 2014

    Ryan Adams testified on behalf of PwC in an important court case. How can PwC be independent of Adam’s employer Marin Software, and Adams, the Financial Reporting Director at this newly public PwC-audited client company, if he’s testifying on PwC’s behalf in litigation that could impact PwC’s business model in California and, perhaps, nationally?


    Auditors and the Financial Crisis: Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?

    By • Jul 13th, 2014

    This is the text of my speech for the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference last Friday. The theme of this year conference was “The Institutional Foundation of Capitalism”. Our special session was entitled ‘The New Financial Architecture after Financial Crisis’.


    US Department of Justice v KPMG: Document Shows “Too Few To Fail” Was Opening Premise

    By • Apr 19th, 2014

    A new KPMG tax shelter era document surfaced, in original format, that had not yet been cited or quoted from in any media reports. The document tells us that late in the negotiations, June 27, 2005 the DOJ still would not agree to all of KPMG’s terms, including promising not to criminally charge the firm. But the decision to make sure the firm did not “go under” had already been made. KPMG and its Skadden attorneys only had to make sure the DOJ didn’t, in a misguided show of sheer aggressiveness, cause another Arthur Andersen.


    All The Auditors Are Above Average: Jay Hanson Allergic To “Audit Failure”

    By • Mar 26th, 2014

    Should audit and auditor failure be solely defined by identified material misstatements that result in restatements, and internal control failures? I don’t think so but Jay Hanson, PCAOB Board member, said so recently.


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