Archive for the ‘Pure Content’ Category

Falling In Line

By Francine • Nov 24th, 2011

This 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 [...]

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Rogue Traders, Rogue Firms: The CME, PwC, MF Global and the Legacy of Refco

By Francine • Nov 14th, 2011

Let’s not forget PricewaterhouseCoopers, MF Global’s auditors.

When it comes to hands-on access to private information, the auditor has more than any other regulator mentioned. And they are supposed to be experts in that client’s business and in the accounting and auditing standards for that industry. PwC also audits JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs. They are all large players in the futures brokerage industry.

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MF Global: 99 Problems And PwC Warned About None of Them

By Francine • Oct 28th, 2011

My latest column is up at American Banker, “Are Cozy Ties Muzzling S&P on MF Global Downgrade?” You may recall the last time I wrote about MF Global. Something about a “rogue” trader.

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PCAOB Disclosure Of Deloitte Private Report: A Regulatory Inflection Point?

By Francine • Oct 27th, 2011

My American Banker column on Tuesday focused on the risks to banks, their audit committees, and shareholders of an auditor who blows off its regulator. Deloitte’s ongoing conflict with the PCAOB poses the risk of undue scrutiny by other regulators and unwanted publicity to all its clients.

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McKenna Visits North Carolina State University – Update With Text of Speech and Other Info

By Francine • Oct 23rd, 2011

I visited North Carolina State University in mid-October at the invitation of Professor Scott Showalter, a retired KPMG partner. Here’s the speech and a few good links for professors and accounting students.

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A Closer Look At Clawbacks

By Francine • Oct 23rd, 2011

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Dodd-Frank’s clawback provision both require a restatement. The restatement of financial results to correct material errors – whether those errors occurred by default or by design – is a necessary condition for enforcing both the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 304 provision and the new Dodd-Frank law.

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Hello? Big 4? Are You Out There?

By Francine • Oct 22nd, 2011

This 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 [...]

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Building a Community Around Your Blog From Scratch – Ten Steps

By Francine • Oct 16th, 2011

Here are my ten steps to building my blog community. They might not work for everyone, but they’ve worked for me. This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list or all the details. Please let me know if you have any questions or want to dig into a subject further.

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In Memoriam – Roberta Gilna Merkel

By Francine • Oct 16th, 2011

Executive search is a lot like the real estate business. Headhunters, with very few exceptions, like realtors, are getting paid by the seller or the company that is selling the job that you, as a candidate, are buying. The best ones manage this ethical dilemma well, especially when the compensation package, like the purchase price of [...]

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Mortgage Bankers And The Futures Industry – Two Big Conferences In Chicago This Week

By Francine • Oct 9th, 2011

I’m working a double shift this week covering two important conferences in Chicago.

The 27th Annual Futures Industry Association Futures and Options Expo starts Monday night and runs through Thursday at the Hilton on South Michigan Avenue. I’m really looking forward to the networking sessions, courtesy of my media pass under Forbes.com. Also in town this week is the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference. This promises to be very interesting, especially in light of my new assignment as a columnist for American Banker.

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