Examining the POGO Report and Other Matters It’s been twenty years since the Public Company Oversight Board (PCAOB) was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). This is a good time to evaluate the mandate given to the board, its work during that period, and whether it protects the public interest. One way to […]
Is the PCAOB Protecting the Public Interest? Read More »
Looking for the Red Flags of Fraudulent Financial Reporting I recently read an article that describes the results of a study that contends that some company bosses are being placed in a position of power when the company needs “aggressive earnings reports”. In such cases, recruiters are more likely to suggest job candidates with “dark
Do Dark Triad Personalities Explain Aggressive Accounting? Read More »
Personality Traits Might Give Us a Clue I recently read an article that describes the results of a study that contends that some company bosses are being placed in a position of power when the company needs “aggressive earnings reports”. In such cases, recruiters are more likely to suggest job candidates with “dark personality traits”
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What is the Public Interest? It’s been about 18 years since Congress created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in response to widespread fraud in the financial statements of the likes of Enron and WorldCom. Given the high rate of audit deficiencies identified in PCAOB inspections of public company audits, the time is right to
Is it Time to Reconfigure the PCAOB? Read More »
A Critical Analysis of the Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable issued a Statement of the Purpose of a Corporation that really is a mission statement, not a plan of action. As such, it is short on details about how corporations can achieve their purpose
Social Responsibilities of Corporations and the Public Good Read More »
The Case of GE and KPMG A new rule adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires disclosure of the tenure of a public company’s external auditor in the annual report. KPMG recently reported that it has audited GE since 1909. This raises the question of whether there should be mandatory audit firm rotation
Should Auditors Rotate Every 109 Years? Read More »
KPMG-PCAOB Scandal Raises Questions About Oversight of the Accounting Profession In an unprecedented event, on January 22, 2018, it was announced that a former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) staffer, Brian Sweet, who was hired by KPMG in 2015, leaked confidential information about PCAOB’s plans to audit the company. Most of the leaked information
KPMG Compromises Integrity by “Stealing” PCAOB Inspection Information Read More »