Holding CEOs Accountable for Fraudulent Activities I have previously blogged about the 324:1 ratio of pay packages, on average, for S&P 500 CEOs when compared to the average worker Pay. In this blog I look at claw backs, a provision that enables a company and/or the SEC to go after... Read more →

Protecting the Public Interest I recently participated in the Ethics Symposium at the Annual Meeting of the American Accounting Association. A colleague of mine, Sri Ramamoorti from the University of Dayton, had very important comments about the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB),that regulates audits and auditors. In other words,... Read more →

Making Workpapers Available to the PCAOB Might Violate China’s Sovereignty On January 23, 2014, the SEC came down hard on Chinese units of big-4 firms, ruling that these units should be barred from auditing U.S.-traded companies for six months. The ruling came after the firms failed to show the SEC... Read more →

Measurement of Audit Quality is the Key This blog is a continuation of one I posted earlier today and follows up on a blog posted a couple of weeks ago. The question of whether audits provide useful information and protect investors has been discussed for many years. It is an... Read more →

2020 Inspection Cycle Report Synopses Last week I blogged about the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and whether it has been living up to its mandate to protect the public interest. I also addressed PCAOB inspection reports and the deficiencies identified by the board. These are discussed next. Deficiencies... Read more →

Defective Audits Are Not Being Adequately Dealt With The SEC removed William Duhnke as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the U.S. audit watchdog, on June 4, 2021. This raises serious questions about the relevance of the PCAOB today and whether it has been operating as intended.... Read more →

Protecting the Public Interest It’s the time of year when companies provide earnings guidance to investors and financial analysts about their future prospects for 2021. Uncertainties abound because we are in unchartered territory with respect to the impact of Covid-19 on the financial position, operating results, and future cash flows... Read more →

Will Whistleblowers Still Come Forward? A new SEC rule interpretation threatens to weaken the incentive for external whistleblowers to come forward with details about potential corporate fraud. The clarification states that a whistleblower’s tip has to offer insight “beyond what would be reasonably apparent” to the agency from publicly available... Read more →

Accounting Ethics at KPMG is an Oxymoron It was just announced that that the California Board of Accountancy has fined KPMG $1.3 million for violations of the Accountancy Act. The Board’s action arose from KPMG admitting to being disciplined by the Securities and Exchange Commission over its actions to obtain... Read more →

ACFE 2020 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse The 2020 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse developed by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners examined 2,504 cases of fraud in 125 countries causing $3.6 billion losses. The results are an eye-opener with respect to... Read more →