Audit

How much more can we tolerate?

April 13, 2010 Tax and Ethics

When I started AccMan, one of the things I wanted to write about was professional ethics. In the meantime, other voices have emerged that know far more about the topic than I will ever likely know. One of those is Francine McKenna with whom I’ve had a long, helpful and educating relationship. A couple of [...]

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We're not the only ones

June 17, 2009 Tax and Ethics

Many readers will know that Richard Murphy, Francince McKenna and myself are sharp critics of the profession for one reason or another. Today I stumbled upon Michael Ramos who writes the EyeShade blog. One post entitled: Is the accounting profession like GM (with the implied bankruptcies that might lead to) caught my eye: I’ve been [...]

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On going concern

March 30, 2009 General

Francine McKenna’s post about hiding bad news is timley but not surprising and won’t change a thing. She says: …given that it’s annual report and quarterly report season for those with a December 31 year end, we will see these opinions come in bunches.  But how to count them?  How to know how big an [...]

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Where to for oversight?

March 19, 2009 General

As I scan the various world media, the lines from Hamlet Act V keep ringing in my head: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge [...]

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Deloitte slapped with record fine

February 19, 2009 General

Another one for the ever growing collection of audit failures. From Report on Business (Canada): An appeal panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario has upheld a decision against three current and retired partners of Deloitte & Touche LLP who were accused of making errors while auditing failed theatre company Livent Inc. in [...]

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The good news on Satyam

January 27, 2009 General

While there is still plenty more to discover re: Satyam there is at least one good thing to come out of it. From coverage I am seeing in the mainstream, the crusty and sometimes arcane world of audit is getting long needed attention. I know it’s good sport to put accountants to the sword, a [...]

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The audit

January 27, 2009 General

Quick question – how much do Monty Python and Pricewaterhouse Coopers share in common? The original idea came from a Tweet message via Tomas Otter

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Satyam: Merrill Lynch knew

January 8, 2009 General

One of the recurring questions from yesterday’s shock revelations at Satyam was the nagging feeling that someone must have known what was going on. Late last night I started to see reports indicating that Satyam’s investment bankers Merrill Lynch knew what was going on. According to The Times of India: There’s intense speculation as to [...]

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Innovation in audit oversight

January 8, 2009 Innovation

I bet you never thought you’d see that as a headline. Neither did I but then Joe Weisenthal’s ‘Nuke the SEC’ post I started to think differently. Let’s start with Joe’s assertions: First, we nuke the SEC. This isn’t really that radical. There’s precious little evidence that it does what it purports to — namely, [...]

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