KPMG

Firm Spy: a must read

June 16, 2009 Featured

A wee bit of stumbling about on the Internet yielded Firm Spy. In its own words: Australasian professionals need an outlet to share the real news — and in so doing, to hold their industries and employers to account.  Our mission is simple: to give Australian lawyers, bankers, accountants and consultants a voice and allow [...]

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PwC uses own team to independently investigate self

March 18, 2009 General

Have you heard anything more ludicrous than this coming out of India following the Satyam scandal? Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) plans to bring in partners from its international affiliates to do an independent audit of its clients in India, besides what is being done by its Indian partners. Duh? Do they think the rest of us are [...]

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Apple fires KPMG, hires EY

March 5, 2009 General

Apple has fired KPMG as auditor after 12 years, preferring Ernst Young. It’s a strange move because the regulatory announcement didn’t imply any particular disagreement between KPMG and Apple. OK – so Apple has had a run in with the SEC concerning backdated stock options but that’s not unusual in the context of the way [...]

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PwC to fail?

February 18, 2009 Featured

I have a bet on with Francine McKenna that PwC will be the first of the big firms to fail. While this may seem like idle and irreverent sport to many, it is a serious issue. Quinn Forensics, a specialist firm of forensic accountant poses the question: Is PwC be about to be barred from [...]

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Auditing: it's over cuz it's not smart

February 3, 2009 General

The last few weeks have been a high speed train ride to keep up with the firehose of material coming out of India and the US. If it’s not Deloitte it’s PwC, EY and KPMG next? Then I read this seminal piece from Umair Haque (courtesy of a Tweet from @timoreilly) and I suddenly had [...]

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I'm stunned

February 3, 2009 General

Concurring Opinions asserts that the storm brewing over Deloitte following Judge Kaplan’s decision in the Parmalat case could have dire consequences for the audit profession: Given existing turmoil in capital markets and plans to reform our system of corporate finance, these developments could not come at a worse time. I have a friendly bet with [...]

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For once I agree with Sir Mike Rake

October 2, 2008 General

It is a rare event indeed but for once I agree with Sir Mike Rake, BT chairman. Rake was the past CEO of KPMG and the man who had to go begging to the SEC not to kill off the firm following the tax fraud scandals in which it was heavily involved. AccountancyAge says: Speaking [...]

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Are the Big 4 risking too much?

June 26, 2008 General

These days I leave the flaying of the Big Four to Francine McKenna but today I can’t help but comment on her analysis of the KPMG case involving Independent Insurance Group that saw the firm and partner Andrew Sayers fined £500,000 with £1.15 million in costs. Rather than dwell on her excellent analysis I’d prefer [...]

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PKF gets £102K fine, what about the Big 4 failures?

May 14, 2008 General

AccountingWeb records that 8 YEARS after a failed audit, ICAEW fines PKF £75,000 plus £27,000 costs. Here’s what they got wrong: The committee said that PKF had “failed to obtain sufficient knowledge” of the client’s subsidiaries, “failed to plan and perform the audit of the group to obtain reasonable assurance that the group financial statements [...]

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