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Email this5:28 pm
December 17, 2016
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The financial scandal no one is talking about
Accountancy used to be boring – and safe. But today it’s neither. Have the ‘big four’ firms become too cosy with the system they’re supposed to be keeping in check?
6:14 pm
June 3, 2015
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This may interest you....CBC Fifth Estate, on KPMG
Tangerine....Canada's best bank. LBC.............Canada's 2nd best bank.
Hubert.....worst bank in Canada.
7:21 am
October 21, 2013
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Very interesting article. It's long, but worth reading through.
It's timely, too, as candidate Ford, aspiring to be Premier of Ontario, is committed to hiring these very folks, "independent auditors", to produce the recommendations he wants, since he distrusts the integrity of Auditors-General in principle.
In addition to the exorbitant costs this will burden us with, these firms cannot be understood to be "independent" because of their extremely large, rich, and profitable list of corporate clients, whose business they retain.
As this author puts it,
"The long reach of the bean counters extends into the heart of governments. In Britain, the big four’s consultants counsel ministers and officials on everything from healthcare to nuclear power. Although their advice is always labelled 'independent', it invariably suits a raft of corporate clients with direct interests in it. And, unsurprisingly, most of the consultants’ prescriptions – such as marketisation of public services – entail yet more demand for their services in the years ahead."
Thanks for posting, Top It Up.
8:21 am
December 17, 2016
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Loonie said
And, unsurprisingly, most of the consultants’ prescriptions – such as marketisation of public services – entail yet more demand for their services in the years ahead."
As a preface, while I thought the article interesting one has to be acutely aware that it was the ultra left-leaning Guardian newspaper that published it.
Personally I don't have a problem with the captioned statement - there should always be on-going assessments of public services by outside agencies to give that independent review. Taxpayers are under duress from governments continuing to increase taxation for programs and services that seemingly go well beyond what used to be known as essential services i.e. using taxation monies as re-election slush funds.
Loonie said
It's timely, too, as candidate Ford, aspiring to be Premier of Ontario, is committed to hiring these very folks, "independent auditors", to produce the recommendations he wants, since he distrusts the integrity of Auditors-General in principle.
Looks like there's enough mud to cast around all sides of the accounting ledger - where even the current reigning party has little regard for their "in-house" provincial Auditor General -
5:47 am
September 11, 2013
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Loonie, in my view the relationship, like all voluntary relationships, between accounting firms and gov't officials is a mutually-beneficial one, both equally complicit in the "consulting" activity, and all parties are in it for their own personal benefits.
Among other jobs and careers I had stints with a large international accounting firm as well as high school teacher and federal gov't bureaucracy, all corrupt outfits run for the benefit of those inside (I concluded all large, and many small, enterprises run by groups of humans are corrupted,) but I'd have to say the most egregious malfeasance, by far, and due mainly to the larger scope, the fact it was done under the guise of "public service", the lack of "competition" and the never-ending ability to tax citizens and/or incur more public debt, occurred in my public sector experiences with unions, bureaucrats and politicians. Just what I saw from my little window, how I came to my views. As Top It Up said in a slightly different context, there's mud on all sides.
4:25 am
October 21, 2013
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I too have worked in public, non-profit and private sectors, unionized and not, in professional, non-professional and consulting capacities.I was also a partner in a small business for a number of years.
I agree that there are big organizational problems in all of these.
As I think about it, I couldn't say that one was worse than another. They were just different. I can say though that I personally was treated worst where I had no protection, i.e. there was no union and/or labour legislation was not honoured or was underdeveloped. Being part of a small business was in some ways the most difficult and the most scary. I am all for supporting them when their businesses are viable but the truth is that a great many are simply bad ideas that are never going to work. But being kept on contract for years on end without benefits is also scary.
None of this means that we should dismiss the problems inherent in asking such accounting-consulting firms to improve things. That just adds another very expensive layer to the situation with very little likelihood of eliminating the issues which you and I have both encountered.
BTW, The Guardian is most definitely not an "ultra left- leaning" newspaper. Actually, the idea made me laugh to myself. If you've ever read an ultra-left paper, you'd know for sure that this is not it.
It's an old established British newspaper, more thoughtful than most and with a somewhat left of centre perspective well within the range of British parliamentary democracy. Its roots are in the city of Manchester, which, historically, explains where it is coming from in terms of perspective.
This article, however, was neither an editorial nor a column nor a staff report. It was an excerpt from a book. Yes, The Guardian does support the idea of reading well-written books, fiction and non-fiction, to learn new information and new perspectives. And that is why this article has come to our attention.
In my opinion, as someone who reads a lot of books and book reviews, they carry what are some of the most reliably well-informed book reviews of any mainstream newspaper in the English language.
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