Archive for the ‘Writing for Others’ Category

Guest Post @FEI Blog: PCAOB Open Meeting August 5th, 2010

By Francine • Aug 6th, 2010

On Thursday August 5th, I covered the PCAOB’s Open Meeting and wrote up a report for the FEI Blog. I’d like to make a few more comments about the meeting yesterday.

I was both surprised and very pleased when Chairman Goelzer announced that he’ll request Congress to amend Sarbanes-Oxley to open the PCAOB’s disciplinary proceedings to public view, in line with the SEC. I was also gratified. I made this suggestion and many times have pointed out the challenge to investors’ right to know about an important gatekeeper – the auditors.

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Asking The Difficult Questions: An Article About Audit Committees For The IIA’s Internal Auditor

By Francine • Jul 5th, 2010

Audit committees must proactively probe management and the auditors to gain insight and to make necessary oversight decisions. This is an article that appeared in Internal Auditor’s June 2010 issue.

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If I Had More Time, It Would Have Been Shorter…

By Francine • Jul 4th, 2010

My new essay is up at Sundayed.com, the side project I’m contributing to with a few friends including Jason Moriber from Wise Elephant who helps me run this site.
This weekend I’m talking about the “Summer Fiction: 20 Under 40″ issue of The New Yorker.   The fiction I read is varied, but I’m not much [...]

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Please Check Out Sundayed.com

By Francine • Jun 5th, 2010

I’ve joined with a few friends to produce some completely different kinds of writing at Sundayed.com. I will be contributing once or twice a month as my schedule permits.
Jason Moriber, the Editor, describes it as such:
Sundayed.com is a short menu of provocative weekend reading.  It’s a platform for our contributors to discuss/illustrate/define/opine on topics that [...]

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@Going Concern “Will Hustling The Big 4 On Salary Hurt Your Chances?”

By Francine • Jun 2nd, 2010

My new column is up @Going Concern.
I get calls. I get letters. And now I even get lots of requests to meet. Talking to readers is one of my favorite things to do. It makes my opinions and ideas real.
I also, of course, learn much from you about what’s really going on. I appreciate the [...]

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@Going Concern “Piling Onto The Scrum: Big 4 Auditors Want A Piece of the Credit Ratings Action”

By Francine • May 19th, 2010

My new column is up @Going Concern:
They lead a charmed life.
• A government sanctioned franchise to provide their services to the largest global companies.
• Oligopolistic pricing and an annuity-style constant pipeline of business because of significant barriers to entry resulting in a license to print money.
• Historic immunity from scrutiny and litigation based on proprietary methods [...]

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Good News. Bad News. AIG’s Cassano Snitches On PwC

By Francine • Apr 7th, 2010

The US Federal government has been propping up AIG with hundreds of billions of dollars and AIG has been, in turn, protecting its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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@Going Concern “Accountants In The Modern World”

By Francine • Mar 10th, 2010

My new column is up @Going Concern.com
“…I don’t envy today’s professors trying to teach the old-fashioned accounting skills in the electronic environment – closing checklists, regular balance sheet reconciliations, journal entry sign-offs, backup documentation requirements, managerial review of financial statements, and proper reviews and approvals of estimates and analytics. These are the Sarbanes-Oxley and the [...]

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@Going Concern: “You’re Hired. You’re Fired. Beware The Big 4 Boomerang”

By Francine • Feb 24th, 2010

My new column is posted @Going Concern.
There’s no profession more conflicted about employee retention versus alumni relations than the auditors. On the one hand, the largest audit firms have well-oiled recruiting machines.
Their uncanny ability to identify and sway candidates early is rivaled only by professional baseball’s success at finding talented Dominicans still swinging stalks of [...]

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@Going Concern “It’s Hard Out There For An Auditor”

By Francine • Feb 17th, 2010

My latest column is posted @Going Concern:
It’s tough to be the “good guy,” however you define “goodness” within your moral framework. It’s even tougher if you were never taught your duty to the public as a licensed CPA and if the firm or company punishes you, de-incentivizes you to do the right thing. Retired Trinity [...]

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