I mean, you know how it is, when you lose $192 million. It’s a tough thing to forget. The Journal reports that the Garden State has renewed its lawsuit against E&Y saying “Those review reports were false, as E&Y knew or should have known that Lehman’s quarterly financial statements were not prepared in accordance with [GAAP].” When reached for comment, E&Y spokesman Charlie Perkins’s voice was barely audible on a nearly worn out tape recording, “Lehman’s demise was caused by the global financial crisis that impacted the entire financial sector, not by accounting or financial reporting issues.” Wouldn’t it be nice if Chuck had Nick DeSanto sing the statement? With a rock accompaniment? At least it would liven up this story again. [WSJ]
Related Posts
Ernst & Young Pays $8.5 Million to Settle Charges with SEC Over Bally Fraud
Six current and former partners at Ernst & Young were charged, along with the firm, by the SEC late yesterday in relation to the audits the firm performed of Bally Total Fitness’ financial statements from 2001 to 2003.
Bally settled accounting fraud charges with the SEC in 2008 that were related to its financial statements from 1997 to 2003.
Because everyone and their dog was freaking out over Enron in screws to their clients to follow GAAP, E&Y had identified Bally as “one of E&Y’s riskiest 18 accounts and as the riskiest account in the Lake Michigan Area.”
Floyd Norris:
The firm forced Bally to stop recording revenue in an improper manner that allowed it to claim earnings earlier than was allowed by accounting rules.
But in doing that, the firm allowed Bally to not admit to having violated the rules in the past, an action that would have forced it to restate its accounts and admit that losses in previous years had been much larger.
Mr. Norris also reported that a source of his at the SEC has stated that “he knew of no previous enforcement cases in which a partner of a major firm was cited for his actions as head of a national office.”
The partner in this case is Randy G. Fletchall, the partner in charge of E&Y’s National Office. He along with Mark V. Sever, E&Y’s National Director of Area Professional Practice, and Kenneth W. Peterson, the Professional Practice Director for the Lake Michigan Area office are the current E&Y partners who settled the charges with the SEC.
The former partners include: Thomas D. Vogelsinger, the Area Managing Partner for E&Y’s Lake Michigan Area through October 2003, William J. Carpenter, the E&Y engagement partner for the 2003 audit, and John M. Kiss, the E&Y engagement partner for the 2001 and 2002 audits.
While the news of a current partner of such lofty heights is notable, an extra twist that isn’t being reported in the MSM comes from GC contributor, Francine McKenna, who tells us that Mr. Fletchall served as the former AICPA Chairman from 2007-2008 and Mr. Sever, a former chairman of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee:
What none of the stories that just hit tell you, though, is that at least two of the EY partners charged, Fletchall and Sever, held leadership positions with the AICPA in the past.
…
Did Mr. Fletchall get off with a slap on the wrist given his AICPA leadership position, AICPA PAC contributions and significant campaign contributions to Senator Christopher Dodd? Mr. Fletchall is used to telling the SEC what it should do. Quite used to it.
These are interesting questions that the SEC probably doesn’t want to address. The connection, in appearance, is shady and we can only speculate as to what happened during the negotiations of the settlement.
The Commission, remaining stoic, gave a standard issue boilerplate statement, saying:
“It is deeply disconcerting that partners, even at the highest levels of E&Y, failed to fulfill their basic obligations to the investing public by not conducting proper audits. This case is a sharp reminder to outside auditors that they must carry out their duties with due diligence. The $8.5 million settlement, one of the highest ever paid by an accounting firm, reflects the seriousness of their misconduct,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
So it appears E&Y is getting sent to their room here, despite the $8.5 million fine being “one of the highest ever paid by an accounting firm.”
The firm also agreed “to undertake measures to correct policies and practices relating to its violations, and agreed to cease and desist from violations of the securities laws.”
Were the AICPA connections enough to keep them out of really hot water? At the very least, it didn’t hurt anything. If you have any information regarding this story, get in touch with us, and we will update you with any developments.
SEC Charges Ernst & Young and Six Partners for Roles in Accounting Violations at Bally Total Fitness [SEC Press Release]
EY Settles SEC Charges Re: Bally’s Fraud-Lives To Audit Another Day [Re: The Auditors]
Ernst to Pay the S.E.C. $8.5 Million [Floyd Norris/NYT]
Jim Turley Stepping Down as Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young
~ Update includes statement from Ernst & Young
This morning we learned from a couple of sources that the big guy will be calling it a career officially on June 30, 2013 and the firm will announce a new CEO-elect at some point in early 2012.
Here’s JT’s message to the troops:
I have written to all our partners to let them know about my plans to retire from Ernst & Young on 30 June 2013.
Every year, our Global Executive (GE) considers the priorities and initiatives we feel Ernst & Young should focus on in the upcoming year, and these priorities are then approved by our Global Advisory Council (GAC), the top governance body of Ernst & Young.
Periodically, we also take a longer look at our strategy and vision, and involve the GAC in this as well. In July, we informed our partners that we were beginning such a long-term strategic review. The GE and I believe that our new strategy and leadership-succession plans are inextricably linked, and we agreed that June 2013 would be the right time for me to retire.
This is a normal process and the timing has worked out perfectly. I will be 58 years old, which is the normal early retirement age for many of our partners. By then, we will be implementing our new strategy and it’s right that a new leader should steer this implementation.
We are starting a robust process to identify the man or woman who will succeed me, in accordance with our regulations. We intend to identify a new Chairman and CEO elect during the first part of 2012. What I feel very good about is that we’re the type of organization that continually develops large numbers of great leaders, so I see many men and women who could lead Ernst & Young successfully into the future.
This is not a retirement letter or speech to you all, as there is much to do before June 2013. However, I wanted to be very open with you about our plans. Thank you for your continued support as we continue both our strategy and succession-planning process.
James S. Turley
Chairman and CEO
UPDATE: Ernst & Young provided us with the following statement:
In a communication to all Ernst & Young partners worldwide on 10 November 2011, James S. Turley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ernst & Young confirmed that he will retire as planned, aged 58, on 30 June 2013. The succession process to decide a new Chairman and CEO-elect is now underway and will conclude in early 2012, no later than April.
So after riding out Lehman, handing out a lot of trophies, and inspiring the greatest lyric in the history of Big 4 employee produced videos, (I’m sure there are other accomplishments too) Jimbo will ride off into the Black and Yellow sunset. This seems like an appropriate tribute:
Feel free to leave other well wishes below.
EY’s Dan Black Will Not Allow Himself to Be Trolled By Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Associate Editor Louis Lavelle recently spoke to Dan Black, the head of EY […]