• Archive for the ‘The Big 4 And Consulting’ Category

    Writing for the Stigler Center ProMarket Blog

    By • May 30th, 2017

    The last time anyone attempted to “modernize” auditor independence rules it was the Securities and Exchange Commission, in 2000, before the Enron failure and Arthur Andersen’s demise, as a result of the growing concern that firms increasing focus on consulting was distracting them for their core purpose, auditing. The Big Four firms are now opportunistically lobbying to go back in time, before Enron, when the industry was self-regulated and mostly left alone, able to have as many conflicts of interest as their powerful public clients would allow.


    The NYDFS Case Against Promontory and the Bigger Problem of Big Four Bank Consulting

    By • Aug 23rd, 2015

    Bank regulators should start hiring the consultants that are responding to bank regulatory sanctions, consent decrees and NPA/DPA legal orders directly, and also strictly monitor them. It’s time to change for regulators to change their approach before another waste of time, money and public trust occurs.


    “Tax Avoidance On An Industrial Scale” Says British MP About PwC’s Luxembourg Work For AIG And Others

    By • Dec 10th, 2014

    British MP Margaret Hodge grilled Kevin Nicholson, of PwC’s UK tax practice, in a Parliament Public Accounts Committee hearing on Monday. You know you’re on your “back foot” when the first thing out of your mouth has to be a denial that you lied under oath. More details about PwC’s tax avoidance scheme for audit client and US government owned AIG.


    Luxembourg Tax Leaks Put PwC On The Defensive

    By • Nov 13th, 2014

    My latest column at Medium.com responds to PwC’s #LuxLeaks defenses: Illegal docs, legal advice. I also raise the obvious auditor independence issues which no one else is reporting.


    PwC Put Guy Who Whitewashed For Bank In Partner Spot

    By • Aug 19th, 2014

    The NYDFS PwC investigation discovered several emails that Benjamin Lawsky, the Superintendent of Financial Services for New York, characterized Monday as examples of a consultant going along with a “whitewash”.


    Big Four Takeovers Raise Concerns: McKenna Featured In The Bottom Line

    By • Aug 17th, 2014

    The August issue of The Bottom Line in Canada includes quite a few quotes and a nice color photo of me in a story about the wave of new consulting firm acquisitions by Big Four audit firms all over the world.


    PwC, And HP, Sued By Mobile Monitor Technologies LLC For Theft of Trade Secrets

    By • Apr 14th, 2014

    An ugly lawsuit filed by Mobile Monitor Technologies LLC against PwC and HP could be an excellent example of what Monadnock’s Mark O’Connor referred to in a recent post here: Advisory work that auditors perform can present an untenable conflict in performing their primary role, and public duty to the capital markets, as auditors.


    Exclusive From Monadnock Research: Big Four Fiscal 2013 Advisory Practice Rankings and Conflict Risk Metrics

    By • Mar 18th, 2014

    This Monadnock Research Note offers an in-depth analysis of organic growth and strategic M&A in non-audit services for the Big Four audit firms, highlighting the growing risks associated with an increasing proportion of advisory relative to audit services at Big Four firms – and the conflict risk that this unique mix of services presents.


    Global Audit Firms Take “Pay To Play” From Sponsored Content to Conferences

    By • Nov 18th, 2013

    If we can’t trust journalists to sort out who’s telling the truth and who’s just selling us, who can we trust?


    Five Auditor Independence Issues PCAOB SAG Not Yet Addressing

    By • Nov 11th, 2013

    There are five big auditor independence issues that space prevented a full discussion of yesterday and that are not on the agenda of the PCAOB SAG meeting this week. My hope is that regulators, policy makers and other interested parties will start talking about these issues, too, while I am in DC this week.


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