Sunday, May 28, 2006

PCAOB Can Pull Audit Firms Out Of Potentially Sticky Spots

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is proposing rules,which in a roundabout way, help the Big Four audit firms handle some potentially sticky situations. Under the Section 102(d) of 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a registered public accounting firm may be required to report more frequently on company events to the Board.....

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Smashed China for Ernst & Young: Banking on Imperfect Information

What’s hard to estimate, fraught with risk and banks on imperfect information?

Figuring out the amount of bad loans in the Chinese banking system

Ernst and Young took a valiant shot with a report in May 2006 that pegged this number at US$911 billion for China’s entire banking system and US$358 billion for the top four banks....


We’ve moved. Click here to go the full post at the new Big Four Blog at Big4.com!

BearingPoint Turnover Huge: Finding Experienced Candidates is Critical

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) recently provided their 2006 Q1 results and 2006 full year outlook (please keep in mind that the 2005 10-K is only due out July 31, 2006). Q1 results of increase in 15% in booking year upon year were driven mainly by strong performance in public services (no updates on other segments)....


We’ve moved. Click here to go the full post at the new Big Four Blog at Big4.com!

Friday, May 26, 2006

The Enron Saga: Andersen Indicted, Then Acquitted....But Too Late

The Enron saga spans 20 years with Lay becoming Chairman in 1986 and being convicted in 2006. Along the way it became the most-admired and most-debased company in the country. Its bankruptcy shattered the company, destroyed Andersen, bled Wall Street banks, fattened attorneys, brought fame and shame to the DoJ, rewrote security laws and impacted thousands of innocent individuals, their lives and careers....


We’ve moved. Click here to go the full post at the new Big Four Blog at Big4.com!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Lay and Skilling Indicted

Messers Lay and Skilling were found guilty today by a jury in Houston on several counts of security fraud, misrepresentation to auditors. This is as it should be. It is hard to believe that these executives were unaware of the manipulations within Enron, the machinations with special purpose entities, the spurious deals with banks and financial institutions in order to make the earnings numbers that they themselves were conveying in a sense to Wall Street....

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Capgemini On a Bull Run!


We were recently checking Capgemini share performance, and were quite surprised. Shares are up 80% in one year and trading at 52-week highs. Compared to this terrific upswing, Accenture's (NYSE: ACN) stock is up about 30+% and BearinPoint is up about 50%.....