• Overstock.com: Pretend Accounting Measures Muddy the Waters

    I present for you today one (just one) example of the accounting shenanigans at Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) to demonstrate the deception of management. This accounting concept is quite elementary, and it is called EBITDA. EBITDA = Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, […]

  • Is fraud ever immaterial?

    A search that brought someone to my blog over the weekend gave me the idea for this post. Immateriality is a concept in accounting that amounts to “too small to matter.” Think of a company with $100 million in sales […]

  • KMPG associates apparently tired of the firm’s lame technology

    This one comes from Dennis Howlett’s blog, and to me, it’s hilarious. I’m not sure if you have to be a an auditor or not to think it’s funny. Apparently there are some emails from KPMG associates circulating and here’s […]

  • More on the auditor change at Catapult

    Last week I wrote about Catapult Communications (NASDAQ: CATT) switching from Deloitte & Touche to a much smaller local firm, in a post called Big Four = Big Fees. In that post I referenced the CFO.com article from which I […]

  • Big Four = Big Fees

    Catapult Communications Corp. in Los Angeles quit their auditors, Deloitte & Touche. And they made public the reason. Deloitte’s fee for 2008 audit = $985,000 Local firm fee for 2008 audit = $561,000 or less (a 43%+ savings) The local […]

  • One way to spot a really bad auditing firm

    I’m embarrassed for this auditing firm. Here are their rates: Non CPA – Staff – $35 / Hour CPA – Non Partners – California Certified CPA – $50 / Hour CPA – Partner – California Certified CPA – $85 / […]

  • Auditors and OTC Company Clients

    An article in today’s Vancouver Sun makes some interesting points about auditing firms and their OTC company clients. OTC companies aren’t very good investments for shareholders, as many have shaky businesses or are really shell companies for other planned business […]

  • Forcing Auditors to Tell the Secrets of Their Clients?

    As a general rule, communications between an auditor and client are private. The information given to an auditor can generally only be disclosed with the permission of the client, or in situations involving SEC filings. But the protection of communications […]

  • Putting auditor billing rates into perspective

    I am still settling in from my office move and upacking some odds and ends. Today I came across a billing rate card from Arthur Andersen. The rates are from 9/1/96 to 8/31/97 for the Milwaukee office, and they are […]

  • SEC fines have gone down

    The fines levied by the Securities and Exchange commission have fallen to their lowest level since 2002. Bloomberg reports that “fewer billion-dollar accounting-fraud cases” and “new policies for fining companies” are to blame. For the year ended September 30, the […]