pwc

PricewaterhouseCoopers a Defendant in Two Lawsuits Over Audits

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In the last week Big Four auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been sued over its performance of audits of companies with massive frauds. First, PwC was named as a defendant in a suit filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as the receiver for Colonial Bank.

Colonial Bank went under thanks to a fraud by Taylor Bean & Whittaker Mortgage Corp., its largest mortgage banking customer. Executives at Taylor Bean & Whitaker cooked up a scheme whereby they sold $400 million in worthless mortgages to Colonial Bank. The mortgages were worthless because they either did not exist, or had already been sold to other investors. Continue reading

On Becoming a Big 4 Audit Partner

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This was left as a comment to an article here, but I didn’t want it to get lost in the shuffle. It gives good insight on becoming a partner at a Big Four firm.

I joined PwC as a director, with explicit expectations that I’d have a leadership role building a new consulting practice. Along with that, I was told I could make a run at partner if my sales numbers were good. Even when the leadership role and the new practice never materialized, I had great numbers and terrific reviews.

After over a year of solid performance and high praise, I found out only by chance that the partnership isn’t an option for me because of my age. Of course this came as a shock. When I asked about my only other option for advancement, the Managing Director role, a partner told me it has similar revenue targets as the partnership but with greater risks. Continue reading

Green Mountain Coffee: Accounting Irregularities and Other Concerns

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gmcr green mountain coffee roastersA couple of weeks ago, David Einhorn bashed Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR) in a 110-slide presentation called “GAAP-uccino” at the Value Investing Conference, sending the company’s shares down. The stock opened at $91.66, and closed at $82.50 the day of his presentation. Over the next two weeks, the stock closed as low as $61.59, with the stock ending last week at $70.99.

The stock had been hovering between $100 and $110 a share in September, despite warnings by others that Green Mountain has been manipulating numbers and could become the target of a full-blown investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Sam Antar, the former CFO of massive fraud Crazy Eddie, has been critical about Green Mountain for some time. He has been vocal about the company’s disclosures, accounting irregularities, and GAAP violations. Continue reading

Overstock.com: The Circus Continues

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Sam Antar has often referred to Overstock.com and CEO Patrick Byrne as the gifts that keep on giving. And he sure is right! There is never a dull moment when it comes to wacky conspiracy theories and accounting woes that never end.

Last week, Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) announced that it wouldn’t be filing its 10-Q for the third quarter on time. The reason? Patrick Byrne had created another clever (but completely wrong) accounting treatment for another accounting error recently discovered, and the auditors wouldn’t sign off on it. Continue reading

Bailout Head Neel Kashkari Wants Transparency (Except When He Doesn’t)

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It’s been widely reported that Neel Kashkari, Goldman Sachs alum and head of the $700 billion bailout, has said he wants transparency in administering the whole process. He is quoted as saying:

“Consistent with Congress’ intent, we are committed to transparency and oversight in all aspects of the program and have already taken several important steps in this area…”

Yet I have to wonder how transparent he really wants things to be when large contracts related to oversight and administration are being released to the public with redacted information. How is that transparent, if we can’t even see who is involved with overseeing the bailout and what they’re being paid? Continue reading

Auditor Liability in Market Meltdown?

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It should come as no shock to anyone that lots of fingers are being pointed related to Wall Street’s meltdown, and specifically related to the banking industry. And auditors are likely to find themselves the targets of lawsuits. Auditor malpractice is often hard to prove, but in this case, I think there will be several victories against the auditors. Continue reading

The Cost (and Risks) of Becoming an Audit Partner

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Ever since my days as a staff auditor at Arthur Andersen, I’ve wondered what it costs to become a partner at a large firm. It’s obviously not something that is widely discussed with staff, so the youngsters all remain clueless.

But Francine McKenna of re: The Auditors has finally answered my question. She points to a report by the Center for Audit Quality. The report says that the average capital contribution per partner is $418,365, which is no small sum for an individual to pay. Continue reading

Overtime Lawsuits For Big Auditing Firm: Could It Lead to Problems For Other Firms?

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Class action suits against auditing firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche are raising questions about future lawsuits. Auditors are suing PwC because they say they were denied overtime pay and benefits, and the suit covers all associates and senior associates of PwC in California.

The firm is saying that the auditors were properly classified as exempt employees under California law, and therefore they were not entitled to overtime pay. Continue reading

Morningstar on PricewaterhouseCoopers and Usana

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Today (bold added by me):

USNAannounced Wednesday that PricewaterhouseCoopers has been hired as the company’s new independent auditor. We are encouraged by this news as we view PwC’s new role as a sign of Usana’s financial legitimacy; however, we are still wary of Usana’s management team. PwC will immediately begin reviewing Usana’s second-quarter results, which were filed but never reviewed by an independent auditor, thereby making the company delinquent in its regulatory filings. Usana did not disclose the fees it will pay PwC but will provide further details in an 8-K, which management expects to file soon. While we don’t anticipate any major changes to our fair value estimate from either the 8-K or amended 10-Q, we will review both filings carefully and adjust our projections accordingly. Continue reading