Deloitte UK CEO David Sproul has been all over the British press for his remarks that politicians are hurting the country's economy by "trying to force companies to pay their fair share of tax." While it's true that politicians have an uncanny knack for getting in the way of all kinds of things, it's also true that gaming the tax system keeps many people in David Sproul's firm people gainfully employed.
But that's neither here nor there. Sproul has other stuff on his mind too, namely Deloitte's role in the near-death experience of RBS:
Mr Sproul also defended Deloitte’s audit of Royal Bank of Scotland before its near-collapse, which was criticised for being too optimistic. ‘An audit is a review of financial statements. It isn’t an assessment of the business model,’ he said.
In this particular case, I can't help be reminded of the immortal words of another slacker, "It was out of my reach. What do you want me to do, dive for it?"
Show some hustle, David.
[Daily Mail via Francine McKenna]
