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The Financial Scandal No One Is Talking About

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The Financial Scandal No One Is Talking About

The Guardian,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The Big Four accounting firms are not the prudential watchdogs they should be.

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Hot Topic
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Since the mid-1990s, waves of corporate scandals have pounded economies, with many of the crises tied directly to the improper practices of the global accounting giants. Yet despite the widespread damage from these implosions, the Big Four accounting firms are now bigger and more powerful than ever. Journalist Richard Brooks exposes the shadowy world of corporate accounting, in which an oligarchy preserves itself despite misdeeds and irregularities. getAbstract recommends this stylish narrative to executives interested in an examination of the corporate accounting world.

Summary

Today, the Big Four accounting firms of Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are responsible for reviewing and certifying the accounts of 97% of corporations in the United States, as well as of the 100 largest companies in the United Kingdom. With that much control over the financial engineering and auditing of corporate titans, the sphere of accounting has diverged radically from its roots of being a check on unfettered business activity. Rather than provide critical feedback on dubious practices and misaligned financial incentives prior to the 2008 financial...

About the Author

Richard Brooks is a financial journalist who writes for Private Eye and Accountancy Age.

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