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This article was originally published at GoingConcern.com on March 3, 2010.
Most don’t wear stilettos, although Cynthia Cooper is fairly attractive for a blond. Harry Markopolos, the Madoff “hero” whose new book is out is being called a whistleblower. I do not see him really warming up to that label or really warming up at all. [...]
I’d be exaggerating if I told you the Lehman bankruptcy examiner’s report, and its scathing indictment of Ernst & Young’s role in the biggest failure on Wall Street, answered my prayers. On the contrary. The more successful a fraud case is against Lehman’s executives, the less likely EY or any of its partners will suffer any consequences for their role in the Lehman fraud.
The US Treasury recently affirmed reappointment of KPMG as Citi’s auditor for the 41st consecutive year. Maybe Treasury married KPMG all over again because they’re cheap compared to what Goldman and AIG are paying PwC. Or maybe Treasury feels like the mother who puts up with a gold digging daughter-in-law because said daughter-in-law saw mom kissing the tennis pro and mom knows her son has slept with the baby-sitter…
Financial Reform Watch blogger Ben Hallman looks at how Lehman Brothers was a leader in disguising its losses—and how a government investigation into Lehman’s practices could offer federal authorities their best, and possibly last, chance to hold individuals responsible for the crisis personally accountable.
In passing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), Congress tried — but failed — to make the market fair and more transparent for individual investors. Until the SEC, through its enforcement actions, holds high-ranking corporate executives accountable for their firms’ wrongdoing and ensures that settlement fines do not unjustly harm shareholders, measures to protect investors from Wall Street malfeasance will continue to fall short of the mark. Renowned securities litigator Jake Zamansky spoke recently on these issues to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) Public Policy Conference.
Last week while I was in New York, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Maria Woehr, a Financial Services reporter for The Street.com. We talked for about a half an hour and she’s produced three videos from that material so far.
The Supreme Court will hand down their decision on Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB before on June 28th. Congressional action may be necessary to reestablish the PCAOB or a comparable regulatory authority within the SEC, if we want to continue independent regulation of the audit firms. I have some recommendations for a new PCOAB law.
It’s been my great pleasure to get to know Ryan Chittum, the reporter for the Columbia Journalism Review’s (CJR) The Audit, a blog devoted to the critical look at business journalism. Ryan and I have not yet met in person, but The Audit is a daily must read.
I did have the opportunity to meet some [...]
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOx) made law what is best practice for all public companies or companies that issue public debt. That includes “smaller” companies.
I’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.
 Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) has more than twenty-five years of experience in consulting and professional services including tenure at two Big 4 firms, both in the US and abroad. Look for my column, "Accounting Watchdog" at Forbes.com and "Accountable" at American Banker. For more information, click "About" at the bottom of this page. Your firm can sponsor this specialized news site. For more information contact Francine McKenna, fmckenna@mckennapartners.com |
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