I read an article in The Wall Street Journal with despair, resignation and disgust. It discusses the recent resurgence in consulting and other non-audit work by the Big Four accounting firms a decade after conflict of interest concerns and corporate scandal sharply limited such work.
The subject came up because of Deloitte’s involvement in auditing and plenty of non-audit work for Autonomy – HP’s debacle acquisition.
Do we never learn? What was all the screaming and shouting about Enron and the years of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance?
The Big Four claim that their non-audit business operates within legal boundaries and the growth isn’t a cause for concern. John Ferraro, Ernst & Young’s global chief operating officer says, ”We believe the (non-audit) services we’re in actually help us on the front of audit quality.”
Based on this article, we are destined to repeat history.
-By Berbay Principal Sharon Berman
