When accounting goes unaccounted for
“During the course of the financial crisis, we made our fair share of mistakes. We lost a considerable amount of money through our exposure to leveraged loans and mortgages.”
~ Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar, in his opening statement before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
“Like Sarbox, it is destined to fail—except for all the lawyers and accountants and new bureaucrats it will enrich.”
~ Neil Weinberg found the silver lining.
“A client injured his wrists, so the doctor told him to keep his wrists elevated. […]
“A successful lawsuit against E&Y could result in a court finding that the failure to properly advise the audit committee prevented Lehman from taking genuine steps to substantially reduce its leverage, which may have saved the firm from bankruptcy. Which is to say, E&Y could find itself blamed for all the losses to Lehman shareholders. That would be a stretch – such a claim would be speculative – but it still should be scaring the heck out of the partners.”