Sarbanes-Oxley For Everyone: To Be Or Not To Be? (With Postscript)
By Francine • Nov 24th, 2009Sarbanes-Oxley (SOx) made law what is best practice for all public companies or companies that issue public debt. That includes “smaller” companies.
Archive for the ‘Regulators, Laws, Standards, Regulations’ Category
The FEI CFRI Conference…And More
By Francine • Nov 18th, 2009I’ve just wrapped up two days of conference attendance here in New York City – The FEI Current Issues in Financial Reporting Conference and the Directorship Boardroom Leaders Forum.The Directorship BLF started with a dinner on Monday night which I was unable to attend but that featured what I heard was a great speech by “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg. The BLF conference itself didn’t kickoff until later Tuesday morning. In the meantime, on Monday I attended several sessions at the FEI CFRI conference.
@Going Concern “Can I Have Your Autograph?”
By Francine • Sep 30th, 2009My new post is up @Going Concern.
“The PCAOB approved Auditing Standard No. 7, Engagement Quality Review on July 28, 2009. They also issued a Concept Release on requiring the engagement partner to sign the audit report. The comment period closed September 11th and boy oh boy were there a lot of comments. The firms came [...]
Going Concern Audit Opinions: Why So Few Warning Flares?
By Francine • Sep 18th, 2009When each of the notorious “financial crisis” institutions collapsed, were bailed out/nationalized by their governments or were acquired/rescued by “healthier” institutions, they were all carrying in their wallets non-qualified, clean opinions on their financial statements from their auditors.
Auditor Independence: Will “Crisis” Cause Compromise?
By Francine • Aug 13th, 2009Given the pressures on costs and the longstanding ties some finance, audit, and accounting executives have with the accounting firms, it is not surprising that the weakening of the independence commitment may come from the companies themselves. What’s the downside for them? The potential for scrutiny by corporate governance experts and journalists? You can’t argue with a recession. And in the event of an accounting scandal or restatement, plaintiff’s lawyers will have an uphill battle to penetrate the impenetrable auditor liability shields and caps.
What’s lost in all of this discussion of efficiency and cost cutting?
Independence protects shareholder’s interests.
McKenna On Auditor Litigation: Securities Docket’s Mid-Year Update and Schein v. EY
By Francine • Jul 11th, 2009Last Thursday I participated in the “2009 Mid-Year Review – Securities Litigation and Enforcement” sponsored by Securities Docket. The webcast is part of BrightTalk’s Securities Litigation Summit, and follows-up and provides an update to the popular “2008 Year in Review” we presented in January 2009.
I joined several of the leading bloggers in the securities litigation [...]
McKenna in Accountancy Magazine
By Francine • Jul 7th, 2009I was asked by Accountancy Magazine in the UK to write a summary of the Compliance Week Annual Conference for their readers. This article, entitled ”Regulatory Reformation,“ can be found here. Please let me know what you think.
Looking Out For Me, Myself, And I
By Francine • Mar 15th, 2009There is at least one person who doesn’t have to worry about having a good job, at KPMG no less. Thomas Ray was the Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards for the PCAOB.
According to WebCPA:
Ray is joining KPMG as a partner in the firm’s department of professional practice in New York.
The Auditors’ Chinese Wall – Is SOx Still A Keystone?
By Francine • Feb 20th, 2009When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in the summer of 2002, largely as a rushed reaction to Enron, it did get a few key things right. We can’t allow time, or fuzzy academics, to let us forget the good reasons for having made them.
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another – Auditors Getting Sued Over Madoff
By Francine • Dec 18th, 2008The “victims” of the Bernie Madoff scandal are not taking their losses laying down. Why are so many suits suddenly being brought against the auditors of the funds that invested on behalf of their clients in the Madoff funds?
Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) has more than twenty years of experience in consulting and professional services including tenure at two Big 4 firms, both in the US and abroad. For more info, check the "About" page.