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

    Revenue Recognition is Coming: Part 2

    By • Sep 7th, 2017

    I’ve been coaching my colleagues on how to spot updates and interesting anecdotes about revenue recognition during the second quarter earnings season. Now we are catching up on the Qs filed and comparing disclosures after concentrating on what was said in earnings releases and calls.


    Revenue Recognition is Coming: Following the Progress at MarketWatch

    By • Sep 6th, 2017

    Once I returned from my Stigler Center fellowship I got to work catching up on the new standard, talking to experts everywhere and working with Audit Analytics to come up with the data to support stories–by my and my colleagues–about companies and their response to the new standard. My goal was to pick some of the obscure topics that were unique or focused on a specific industry.


    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?


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