The Satyam Scam appears to be unfolding with news coming out so often that the Economic Times of India has a scroll bar with news marked by the minute. Given that the scandal hinges on non-existent cash on the balance sheet, and the lack of adequate controls and checks and balances on this, statutory auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers appears to be right in the middle of this situation.
Posts
2 comments:
I am a little surprised at the title of your blog "....PwC still in focus"!!
Now that Raju is in jail, PwC should be the ONLY focus! It is a disgrace to me personally as a former Big 4 (or 5 or 6 - whatever, at this rate, it may be a Big Zero soon:-() employee that almost a week into the scam revelation, not a single honest Partner from PwC has come forward and acknowledged that they goofed up big time! All sorts of flimsy excuses , ranging from "Client confidentiality" to "we followed due process" are being served up! For heaven's sake, please understand that PwC has failed in its obligation to the stakeholders - if this were the US or UK, would they have sat pretty like this? Are they taking undue advantage that this has happened in India, where judicial processes are capricious and they hope to get away??
The PWC Satyam imbroglio highlights some incestuous relationships.
1. E & Y were internal auditors of Satyam. PWC were the statutory auditors.
2. E & Y member firm S R Batliboi are joint statutory auditors of Maytas Infra.
3. Valuation of assets of Maytas was carried out by E & Y.
4. A number of Maytas JVs and subsidiaries indicate a close relationship between Maytas and Nagarjuna Construction Co.
5. NCC's joint statutory auditors are Deloittes.
6. Now Deloittes have been appointed by Satyam.
What can we say?
Anyway, this being India, this too shall pass.
Post a Comment