Hi compradun,
I admire the clarity of your intellect. And your depth of experience.
GAAS is a term I am unfamiliar with. GAAP - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is one I am quite familiar with. How would the two differ? In ten words or less.... <g>
The logic train: "Collusion hides fraud, ergo, mere attestation" seems to be a nice biz schul shibboleth that is defied by the reality of the accountancy world, where the accountancy wizards at the Big Five generally serve not only as outside auditors but with great frequency also as tax structure advisors, IBC/LLP structure advisors, OTC derivatives advisors and general co-conspirators with management. If they are not actively hustling the corporate suites with new products such as "improved interpretations of contingent existing forward contracts" or "improved share-settled costless collar arrangement" for instance.
I was not a little shocked by Joseph Berardino's chutzpah in sitting before the Congressional dogs of war yesterday, denying that the most egregious conflicts of interest do not exist and, anyway, aren't really a problem for Andersen. Some beg to differ:
Message 17019591
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As to: CPAs in an audit are only allowed to report fraud to the audit committee not to the "public".
It is my profound hope that enough stink is attached to the utterly broken accounting schema in this country that we somehow get back to the original notion of what accountancy is all about. After all, the original British accountants sent to this country in the 1800's to see where owners money was disappearing to in fraudulent and foolish public company fiascos. How did we get so far down the road to the insane system of today?
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Re: The real issue is whether AA&co was a party to the collusion.
I nonconcur. I've seen enough evidence to say that this is incontrovertible. What the nub of the matter is, is being able to make the case stick in front of an administrative judge who is just as likely to be bent as is the honcho class at Andersen. Andersen, after all, is a past master and present wizard at the art of buying itself the best justice that money can buy.
Cordially, Ray |
