If You Let 23-Year-Olds Sign Off on Audits, You’re Gonna Have a Bad Time
On January 24, short seller Hindenburg Research dropped a report called Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History, in which Hindenburg accuses Indian conglomerate Adani Group of engaging in “a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades,” among other things. A […]
EY Staffers Feel Left in the Dark After Death of Their Colleague Last Weekend
In the early hours of last Saturday, the body of a 27-year-old woman (note: she was incorrectly identified as 33 in early reports) was found at EY’s Sydney office and since then, questions have been raised about the events of the final hours of her life. Most reports say she went out for drinks with […]
PwC Has Gotten the U.K. Audit Cops’ Attention
The press release the U.K. Financial Reporting Council sent out earlier today was short and sweet—all of 64 words—but it likely sent a shiver down the spines of TPTB at PwC: The Financial Reporting Council (“FRC”) has commenced an investigation into PwC LLP in relation to its audit of the consolidated financial statements of Wyelands […]
Uh-Oh, This Isn’t Looking Good for KPMG U.K.
From Reuters today: Britain’s accounting regulator said it has delivered its initial report into KPMG’s audit of builder Carillion, an indication that apparent rule breaches have been found. The construction company’s collapse in 2018 angered lawmakers who called on the Competition and Markets Authority to consider breaking up top accountants to increase competition and auditing […]
EY U.K. Is Waiting to Get Called to the Principal’s Office
I remember being deathly afraid of getting into trouble in elementary school because if you were called to the principal’s office, chances are you would get a swat or two on the buttocks from his spanking paddle. Well the U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council has taken its paddle out of the drawer, put it on the […]
KPMG U.K. Won’t Have to Deal with Deal Advisory Partner Anymore
The whole Sanjay Thakkar bullying saga at KPMG U.K. has mercifully come to an end. The Financial Times reported on Feb. 28: One of KPMG’s most senior partners who was at the centre of a bullying dispute has left the firm eight months after widespread scrutiny of his conduct that led to a crackdown on […]
FRC Didn’t Want Grant Thornton U.K. to Feel Left Out of All the Disciplinary Fun
The Big 4 firms in the U.K. have been the target of repeated tongue-lashings from the Financial Reporting Council lately because, let’s face it, audits have been pretty damn bad. Things have gotten so desperate that EY is bringing in behavioral psychologists to improve audit quality. But the U.K. accounting watchdog’s most recent tongue-lashing wasn’t […]
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before: FRC Reprimands KPMG U.K. for Crappy Audit
When it comes to the Financial Reporting Council and KPMG audits, it must be like shooting fish in a barrel. This time, the U.K. accounting watchdog fined KPMG £2.1 million ($2.7 million) on Aug. 20 following the Big 4 firm’s admission of misconduct on the audit of fashion company Ted Baker Plc’s financial statements in […]
Report: Feds Examining Whether Michael Cohen Committed Tax Fraud
Federal prosecutors are already investigating possible crimes related to the business affairs of President Trump’s former personal attorney, fixer, and bulletproof vest, Michael Cohen, including bank fraud, campaign-finance violations, and hush payments made to cover up alleged flings Trump had with a porn star and a Playboy model. So, hey, why not throw tax fraud […]
Does the ‘P’ in KPMG Stand For ‘Probes?’
Because we have two new probes into KPMG to tell you about. First, two weeks after the quality of its audit work was called “unacceptable” by the Financial Reporting Council, KPMG is being probed by the United Kingdom’s accounting watchdog over its audit of British beverage wholesaler Conviviality’s financial statements, according to the Financial Times. […]
Herbalife Making Moves to Become Honey Badger of Investigations
Herbalife isn't having a great time but it's fine. No really, it's fine. First, they had to squash some rumors a few days ago with this press release: We have no knowledge of any ongoing investigation by the DOJ or the FBI, and we have not received any formal nor informal request for information from […]
House Republicans Still Keeping Themselves Busy Trying to Ruin Lois Lerner’s Day
House Republicans are taking action on multiple fronts this week against former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, pursuing criminal charges against her for alleged violations that include contempt of Congress and leaks of confidential taxpayer information. Lerner’s attorney, William Taylor, said Wednesday that the referral is “just another attempt by Republicans to vilify Ms. […]
Herbalife is Having the Worst Wednesday Right Now
Well no one saw that coming, eh? Herbalife (HLF) announced it received today a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In response, Herbalife issued the following statement: Herbalife welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace, and will cooperate fully with the FTC. We are confident that […]
Oddly, Dem and GOP Leaders Don’t Agree on Next Act in IRS Investigation Circus
Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) shared some new info yesterday about some of the employees in the IRS's Cincinnati office — including a self-described "conservative Republican" — who were all, "Yeah, we kinda sorta used terms like 'Tea Party' to try to determine who was engaging in too much political activity to qualify as a 501(c)(4)": According […]
SEC Concludes That It Doesn’t Need to Kick Overstock.com on the Way Down
The financial gumshoes at the SEC have closed their investigation of Overstock.com and have concluded that no enforcement action is necessary. Naturally, former Arkham Asylum resident and current Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne sees this as a vindication: "We are the ones who brought all these matters to light, we made the corrections, we fully disclosed these […]