Professions / Accountancy
Professional ethics

W. Benson Dana, CPA ... Why the large accounting firms are more like a criminal enterprise than ever before?

Burgess COMMENTARY
I trained with Cooper Brothers & Co in the early 1960s ... CB&Co that merged with Lybrand Ross Bros and Montgomery to become Coopers and Lybrand and then with Price Waterhouse to become Price Waterhouse Coopers ... not to mention some other mergers along the way. Ethics and professionalism were at the center of our training and everyone in the firm from the Managing Partners to the Junior Articled Clerks had this front and center all the time. Fast forward 20 years to the 1980s and it had already become obvious that the role of profits had taken over from professionalism and ethical behavior, not least as income from consulting became more important than income from auditing. Fast forward another 30 years and software and other 'products' seem to have taken over. Meanwhile the need for excellence and efficiency in the validation of numbers has never been more important. Peter Burgess http://truevaluemetrics.org
Peter Burgess

CPA & Business Professional Group

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W. Benson Dana, CPA Club President at Cape Elizabeth Lions Club

Why the large accounting firms are more like a criminal enterprise than ever before

The AICPA is their lapdog. This kind of action is unconscionable.

ESNC, a German security research firm, discovered a critical flaw in PWC's enterprise software, which would allow attackers to hack into PWC customers' systems; when ESNC gave PWC notice of its intent to publish an advisory in 90 days, PWC promptly threatened to sue them if they did.

Indeed, the PWC legal threat went further, threatening action if ESNC gave any public statements that contained the true fact that PWC's products were not fit for purpose. PWC then doubled down by sending a second legal threat. ESNC responded by hastening its timeline, publishing its advisory in two weeks' time, rather than the three months it initially offered.

Good for them! Always stand up to a bully. They are essentially cowards.Show less