PricewaterhouseCoopers In Global Spotlight

How do the Big Four show up in the global spotlight? In a very interesting way, as we are seeing…

Ban Ki Moon, the new Secretary General at the United Nations has made early history in his nascent tenure. He recently announced that he will make public his financial disclosure report. And this will be audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the Big Four firms. Ban is the first U.N. secretary general ever to do so, something his predecessor, Kofi Anna Annan repeatedly refused to do. Ban’s idea is to restore trust and confidence in the United Nations, which is definitely needed at this time after a series of unfortunate trust-eroding events, including the oil-for-food scandal

Ban's disclosure is seen as a precedent-setting very important first step. Ban filed his financial statement with the U.N. ethics unit. Apparently, other senior U.N. officials are required to file a financial disclosure statement with the ethics unit, but they are not required to make them public, unless of course, they do so on a voluntary basis.