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Topic: Big Four auditors

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	Guardian \| Big four auditors too powerful, says EU
		The big four accountancy firms could face EU action to break up their dominance in carrying out audits for the largest firms in Britain and elsewhere in the world, a Brussels official warned yesterday.
		Among measures designed to restore confidence in auditors after the Enron, Royal Ahold, WorldCom and Parmalat scandals, the EU is considering plans to introduce strict requirements on accountants to avoid conflicts of interest and giving incentives to companies to switch, according to Mr Shaub.
		Mr Shaub's comments reflect fears - exaggerated, according to one senior big four partner - that the four could be further reduced to three because of the £2.5bn claim by Equitable Life against Ernst and Young.
	www.guardian.co.uk /print/0,3858,5087801-106710,00.html (561 words)

	Big Four auditors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Big 4, sometimes written as the Big Four, is a group of international accountancy and professional services firms that handles the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as many private companies.
		The members of the Big 4 are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst and Young and KPMG.
		The second firm of the Big Five, Arthur Andersen, was indicted for obstruction of justice for schredding documents related to the audit of Enron, covering up millions of dollars in losses in the 2001 Enron scandal.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Big_Four_auditors (731 words)

	An Inside Look at Auditor Changes
		When an auditor is informed by a company that it has been terminated, or informs the company that it will no longer serve as the independent auditor, the auditor is required to send a form letter directly to the Office of the Chief Accountant of the SEC.
		In cases where the auditors were dismissed, the relationship might have been strained by weaknesses uncovered by the auditors that led to the restatements.
		In its response letter, the auditor asserted that the company’s statement was “factually incorrect and misleading.” In such a situation, questions arise about the integrity of a company’s financial statements, its management team, and the oversight of its board of directors.
	www.nysscpa.org /cpajournal/2005/1105/special_issue/essentials/p12.htm (5597 words)

	washingtonpost.com: Public Companies Complain to SEC About Audit Costs
		Auditors are approaching the reviews with extreme caution because they know their judgment will be scrutinized by the oversight board and may possibly be subject to lawsuits from shareholders, according to a letter sent to regulators by accounting firm Ernst and Young LLP.
		FEI suggested that the Big Four accounting firms, which are privately held, be forced to open their own books to the public for review.
		The Big Four so far have resisted public inspection of their finances, but the firms each posted double-digit profit increases last year, according to news releases.
	www.washingtonpost.com /ac2/wp-dyn/A38809-2005Apr8?language=printer (1079 words)

	CFO Asia -- February 2005 -- Special Report -- Auditing China's Auditors (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		CFOs that do not use the Big Four, but only local providers, showed even fewer scruples, with 9 percent citing their accountant's willingness to suit their opinion to the company as one of their top two criteria in choosing a firm.
		The Big Four scores much higher than local accounting firms in the CFO China survey, with 42 percent of CFOs saying their auditors conduct a "thorough" analysis, research, or assessment of their internal controls.
		In his view, the major reason auditors "cannot discover" financial problems of their auditing clients is because the auditing industry, on a global basis, is driven by vested interests.
	www.cfoasia.com /archives/200502-05.htm (1622 words)

	Big Four - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Big Four (banks), the name given to the four biggest banks in a certain area.
		The Big Four universities of Canada referring to Queen's University, McGill University, University of Toronto, and University of Western Ontario.
		The four major hip hop artists and groups to emerge from the New York hip hop scene during the mid-1990s (The Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., and Jay-Z).
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Big_Four (634 words)

	Big four auditors challenged on coping with risk
		The big four accountancy firms have been challenged by the UK reporting regulator to show they can effectively manage risk, or face the possibility of outside regulation.
		The loss of a big four firm in the UK would cause “uncertainty for companies and investors and a risk of disruption to the markets, at least in the short term”, the FRC said.
		The big four firms invest millions of pounds a year in audit quality and risk management, but cases of serious accounting errors and corporate fraud continue to emerge.
	www.riskmanagementmagazine.com.au /articles/45/0C041045.asp?Type=123&C... (493 words)

	Big Four auditors (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The Big Four are a group of international accountancy firms that handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded corporations.
		The term Big Eight was coined in the 1980s to reflect the international dominance of the eight largest accounting firms.
		In the wake of the 2001 Enron scandal, Arthur Andersen was effectively removed as one of the Big Five, reducing the Big Five to the Big Four.
	publicliterature.org /en/wikipedia/b/bi/big_four_auditors.html (304 words)

	PricewaterhouseCoopers - Encyclopedia, History, Geography and Biography (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		PwC is the largest of the Big Four auditors, whose other member firms include Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst and Young and KPMG.
		One such result was the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which required auditor independence and separation of core audit from general consulting.
		According to statistics compiled by the firm from third party sources, PwC ranks in as the number 1 employer of choice among the Big 4 in student recruiting surveys from 12 countries including China, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States [3].
	www.arikah.net /encyclopedia/PwC (1656 words)

	Saxe Lectures (2006): Nusbaum, E. Restoring Investor Trust...
		This progress is validated by the number of SEC-announced auditor changes from a Big Four firm to another global, national, regional or local firm from 280 changes in 2003 to 421 in 2004 and 414 in 2005.
		However, the only required disclosures surrounding the auditor change were negative disclosures, despite the fact that there are some positive reasons for an auditor change, such as changing to work with a firm that specializes in your industry or market segment, getting better service from your firm, or getting a better value for fees.
		Many of these companies were former clients of non-Big Four firms; however, in the process of becoming a public entity, they were encouraged to switch to a Big Four firm as a perceived risk mitigation strategy by underwriters or Wall Street advisors.
	newman.baruch.cuny.edu /DIGITAL/saxe/saxe_2005/nusbaum_05.html (4606 words)

	CPAs leave the Big Four for better life (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		She became a statistic that the Big Four accounting firms aren't happy about: another of the experienced young accountants who have fled the profession even as they may never be more needed.
		To combat the problem, the Big Four are trying to move from a culture of overloading and underpaying youngsters to nurturing and better rewarding them.
		She was one of 20 current or former Big Four junior auditors interviewed for this article who detailed the pressures that play into turnover.
	www.post-gazette.com /pg/05124/498912.stm (1080 words)

	Oligopoly Watch (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		In the UK, the Big Four international audit firms are under pressure to divest some of their clients to small accounting firms.
		In other words, the Big Four, a tight oligopoly, are dictating to large firms that they will decide who will serve whom, not the clients who are presumably buying the services.
		Deloitte (and presumably the other three big auditors) believes that the top of the market is theirs by right, and while they compete among themselves, they find outrageous any attempt to bring in more competitors.
	www.oligopolywatch.com /2006/08/10.html#a872 (448 words)

	Kessler International - News Articles and Press Releases (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The top auditing firms, collectively known as the Big Four, declined to say how much more the new law was costing their clients, though they all said it had sharply increased the amount of work they must do for clients, and the fees they charge.
		A Big Four audit of a company is still a symbol of prestige and power, especially on Wall Street.
		Second-tier auditors say they are picking up clients cast off by the Big Four, even while dumping some of their own existing clients.
	www.investigation.com /articles/library/2005articles/articles10.htm (1342 words)

	FT.com / Home UK / UK - Warning on lack of choice outside 'Big Four' auditors (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		Concerns about the dominance of the big accounting firms have grown since the disappearance of Andersen, which disintegrated after it was indicted by the US government over its role in the collapse of Enron.
		The study, based on interviews with auditors, regulators, directors and investors, concluded that a third of the chairmen of FTSE 350 audit committees felt their companies did not have a sufficient choice of auditor.
		However, the barriers to competition with the big four are also the result of some companies' reluctance to appoint a mid-tier auditor because they feel the firm might not be able to handle audits of international subsidiaries, or because such a move might upset shareholders.
	www.ft.com /cms/s/f002dc8a-c9c3-11da-94ca-0000779e2340.html (574 words)

	SSRN-Auditor Reputation and Auditor Independence in an Emerging Market by Zulkarnain Muhamad Sori, Yusuf Karbhari
		The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of auditor reputation (i.e.
		Consistent with prior studies, the results indicated that clear majority of the auditors, loan officers and senior managers of public listed companies agreed that auditors in Big Four firms are superior to their counterparts in non-Big Four firms in all of the reputation issues presented to them.
		It may be that the Big Four auditors are likely to become the subject of interest to the public and regulators, especially when they are suspected to exhibit negative behaviour.
	papers.ssrn.com /sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=876411 (319 words)

	Big Four auditors 'could do better' says Sir John Bourn - 20 Jun 2005
		Audits carried out by the Big Four accountancy firms were found to be "appropriate and soundly based" in first annual review published by the new Audit Inspection Unit.
		While the Big Four were scrutinised in the first year, the inspectors' net would widen this year to cover the next five firms who carry out listed company audits.
		In Nigeria where the Big four have a presence, there is currently as far I know no Audit inspection unit hence I believe there will be some practices which do not conform to international standards which will be going on.
	www.accountingweb.co.uk /cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=142412&d=789&h=788&f=785 (1453 words)

	Auditor Jobs \| Big Four Alumni - Big Four Accounting, Finance, Consulting Firms & Jobs/ Career Services
		BigFour is a Audit, Tax, Consulting, Legal and IT community for ex-Big Four professionals from Accenture, BearingPoint, CapGemini Ernst and Young,Deloitte and Touche, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
		The Big four provide audit services like control assurance, financial statement and internal audit, regulatory consulting and enterprise risk management that identify risks and opportunities beyond the traditional financial reporting function.
		Being "employers of choice for innovative programs," the Big 4 are dedicated to enable their clients and professionals excel.
	www.bigfour.com /auditorjobs.htm (195 words)

	RevenueRecognition.com - Audit Fees Drop, for Some (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The sophomore jinx was lifted for some big companies as 25 of them reported lower audit fees in their second-year of Sarbox compliance.
		Four companies — Aflac, BellSouth, Johnson and Johnson, and Motorola — cited a drop in fees related to Sarbox Section 404 compliance as the reason for the overall decrease in their 2005 fees.
		It also requires that auditors attest that their client's financial controls are adequate.
	www.revenuerecognition.com /article.cfm/6766971 (538 words)

	Fool.com: Big Four Auditors Losing Clients [Motley Fool Take] February 18, 2004
		A CFO.com article recently reported some interesting changes in the corporate landscape: Many big companies are no longer paying big accounting firms to audit their books.
		The clients, in general, weren't switching to another Big Four firm; instead, the majority were switching to smaller national firms or regional or local auditors.
		One possible explanation for this shift is that whereas it may once have looked impressive to have one of the Big Four as your auditor, inspiring trust in shareholders and analysts, recent scandals have tarnished the Big Four.
	www.fool.com /News/mft/2004/mft04021801.htm (347 words)

	Fool.com: Auditors Are Getting Skittish [Motley Fool Take] March 30, 2004
		During the go-go years of the late 1990s, it often seemed that America's auditors were willing to rubber stamp any kind of accounting shenanigan rather than risk offending a client.
		Auditors are more aggressively questioning their clients' accounting practices, even at the cost of losing the client.
		This trend may not bode well for auditors' finances, but the more aggressively our nation's auditors monitor their immediate clients, the safer investors -- the ultimate beneficiaries of the auditors' services -- can sleep.
	www.fool.com /News/mft/2004/mft04033009.htm (436 words)

	SSRN-Auditor Reputation and Auditor Independence: Evidence from an Emerging Market by Zulkarnain Muhamad Sori, Shamsher ...
		Consistent with the documented evidence, the Big Four firms were perceived to be superior compared to the non-Big Four firms in all aspects relating to independence from their clients.
		It may be that the Big Four auditors are more exposed and subject to close scrutiny by the public and regulators, especially when negative behaviour is perceived.
		The findings suggest that the Big Four auditors are perceived to be more independently than the non-Big Four auditors.
	papers.ssrn.com /Sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=895484 (289 words)

	WebCPA \| Big Four Escape SEC Wrath (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		The paper found that the SEC was much more likely to discipline auditors employed by smaller accounting firms.
		Former SEC commissioner Bevis Longstreth told the paper that the agency has historically had a tough time taking on the "those big boys, but one has to do it because otherwise (they’re) encouraged to feel that they can push the SEC around," he said.
		Insiders say the big problem is that bigger firms have the money and power to fight SEC actions and defend themselves, while smaller firms generally settle because they don’t have the resources to battle the government.
	www.webcpa.com /article.cfm?articleid=2829 (170 words)

	USATODAY.com - More firms flee Big Four accountants (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		In two-thirds of the 396 departures, it was the Big Four firm that got the boot.
		The rules require auditors to conduct expensive tests of a company's accounting controls to make sure there are safeguards to stop the books from getting cooked.
		The Big Four, which rely heavily on recent college grads, assign a partner to every 10 to 12 employees, he says.
	www.usatoday.com /money/companies/management/2004-09-26-big-four_x.htm (565 words)

	Foreign auditors under lens
		The department of company affairs had expressed the view that the regulator's executive council, which is the apex decision-making authority, should deliberate on the issue and revert to the government.
		Though the institute did not have hard evidence against the Big Four, ICAI president R Bupathy had said there was circumstantial evidence to suggest they had an arrangement in place in India to undertake both audit and consulting work.
		While Indian audit firms are not allowed to advertise and solicit clients for both audit and consulting businesses, the multinational firms advertised for consulting and passed on audit assignments to their Indian associate, he had stated.
	www.rediff.com /money/2003/jun/04audit.htm (448 words)

	Big four auditors earn $3.8 billion - The Times of India (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
		CHENNAI: The "Big Four" consulting and audit firms operating in India have earned an "eye popping" $3.8 billion consultancy revenue in India.
		PwC, KPMG, Ernst and Young and Delloitte are popularly referred to as the Big Four.
		According to him, the Big Four were involved in serious frauds, (which will be released as a White Paper prepared by the CAAC, by Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday in Chennai) and that they had undue advantage by virtue of clubbing consultancy with audit.
	timesofindia.indiatimes.com /cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=71778 (242 words)

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