Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
Tuesday Oct 18, 2011
The PCAOB ( now what does that stand for) released a May 2008 report critical of DeLoitte. It suggests the auditor is not skeptical enough and relies too much on management assurances.
We reported on the DeLoitte University in this post. Indeed the firm's response was that they had built a $300 M training facility. Well that didn't help Arthur Andersen, the tone at the top sets the pace, not the price of the building.
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
I can’t remember if it was you or another professor that had us read “Final Accounting” which gave the accounts of a former employee at Arthur Andersen during during the time that it began to crumble. Indeed, it was the tone at the top that began that crumble years ago. The aurthor wrote of the greed that began to erode that place from within through what she called “Bill their brains out” referring to overbilling for their work. She couldnt justify charging a client $300K for $50K of work performed, etc. She spoke of the “university” new employees were sent to for weeks to be shown the “Andersen way” to become androids. It was a great read.
Thanks for the post.
Jerry
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Thanks Jerry, I will be teaching ethics next semester and that needs to be on the reading list again. Good summary of the book by Barbara Toffler, thank you!
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Professor Elam 
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