re: The Auditors

More On Chief Risk Officers

I do not believe the measure of a man or a woman is what they make. But in the case of the two MF Global CROs, the testimony they gave about their salaries, coming at the end in response to a question from a cranky Congressman from New Mexico, offered the perfect punchline.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements and Conferences

Presenting, "Modeling Fraud: Models Behaving Nefariously", for the Columbia University Financial Engineering Practitioners Seminar, February 6, 2012, 6-8pm New York, NY. Open to the public!

KPMG Nixes GE Loaned Tax Staff Engagement

KPMG will no longer loan tax professionals to GE during busy season, according to a source close to the situation. KPMG was billing an extra $8-10 million, over and above the audit each year, for the service. Loaning, assigning, or “seconding” tax or any “bookkeeping” staff to an audit client is prohibited by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of [...]

The Risky Business of Being A Bank Chief Risk Officer

It’s difficult for me to imagine a new generation of systemically important financial services company CEOs without strong risk management experience. But the newly prominent role also gives shareholders, regulators, and the media an easy target for ridicule after a corporate stumble or failure.

Madoff, MLK, Buddha And Elusive Nature of Self-Interest

Your first obligation as a professional is to your client, not your firm, your partners, or even your family.

MF Global Updates: Forbes, American Banker

Amazing but true, the MF Global story is still red hot, reason being $1.2 billion in customer funds is still missing. Here's a recap of recent columns at Forbes and American Banker that have tracked new developments.

MF Global Mystery: The Beginning of the End or the End of The Beginning?

Lots of news and updates on MF Global, PricewaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon and the politics of money.

How Do You Hide A Multibillion Dollar Loss? Accounting For The Olympus Fraud

I asked CPA and blogger Jim Ulvog to write a guest post on the Olympus scandal because he was the only one to explain it to me from an accounting perspective. An investigative report prepared by auditor Ernst & Young Shin Nihon - yes, the one that missed the fraud - is a scathing indictment of the company and others potentially complicit in the multi-year subterfuge.

Visit To James Madison University

I had the pleasure of visiting James Madison University on November 15-16 to meet with faculty in the School of Accounting, some student groups and to speak at the Beta Alpha Psi Initiation Dinner.

Update: Mortgage Servicer Foreclosure Review Process

I was the first to report on December 6 the irony of Deloitte having been selected by, of all banks, JP Morgan Chase. The high likelihood of a conflict between the bank and the audit firm, and possibly the individual Deloitte partners assigned to the JP Morgan Chase review, should have been obvious to anyone at the OCC. It turns out I was right.