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Originally posted by mhaw
WorldCom has fired their CFO after discovering improper accouting amounting to more then $4 billion dollars... and guess who did their books, yeah that's right... Andersen
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There is nothing new here. All major accounting firms commit these acts. The American accounting standards are created by the accounting industry. When Clinton's man, Levitt, tried to have the accounting industry regulated after (the garbage company - name forgotten) demonstrated how bad American accounting was, instead big wheels in Congress including Tauzin of LA threatened to cut off all funding for the SEC. Congress wanted this 'loose in the tooth' accounting protected which is but one reason why they will not demand the US use International Accounting Standards.
How many Xerox copy machines have you seen? What percentage of copy machines are Xerox? Therefore Xerox had KPMG actually book ficticious sales since 1997! Xerox was on the verge of bankruptcy last summer. However their loans were based, in part, on those fictional sales trends. Xerox is a classic example of a company run by MBAs that must use accounting tricks to survive. Add AT&T, Kodak, steel companies, Carrier, United Technologies, Lucent, and Polaroid to a list of suspected problem companies. KPMG is only one of many who get their business, in part, by participating in questionable accounting by standards- standards they set - public good and truth being secondary.
Halliburton is another who is suspect of playing fast and loose with the books. Did you hear about that one? Maybe not. Cheney was its president during those shenanigans. Instead Ashcroft in Moscow claimed a half baked story that even he now denies about dirty nuclear device. That is the trend. When another company that cooks the books will be traceable to administration officials or its friends, then expect another terrorist alert. But shady accounting is standard throughout the Geroge Jr administration.
Bottom line is that the Republican party and the White House has choosen to not address this problem - so that it will eventually go away. Same mentality that created the S&L crisis. (Part of the 'not Clinton's way' mentality.) Politicians are purchased legally. In the S&L case, industry 'product oriented thinkers' warned in committee hearings that new Congressional legislation would create the S&L crisis. But we out here stayed silent. Congress was paid off. The rest is history.
We still don't hold Congress's feet to the fire. We reelected another overfed, insider - Santorum of PA. Therefore we have the government we want. We have the accounting standards we want.
So you think it stops here? Have you heard how bad the deficient is growing - and the Reagonomic attitude of George Jr? The government ran out of money a few months back and raided a Federal Pension fund. What kind of accounting is that? It is the mentality of George Jr (and some here) who claimed it is our money and should be given back to us - if using shady accounting tactics. Now the government is running $400 to $600 billion deficients - conservatively.
If you think the accounting firms are shadely, you have not been watching the Federal budget under another shady accounting standard - George Jr economics. Even the White House acknowledged that they never expected it to get this bad. But this is not news yet.
We will not fix the accounting industry - they have bought too many Senators. We will ignore the Federal deficients that are growing exponentially - because George Jr is also an MBA with his own accounting methods - as demonstrated by his mental midget tax cut.
Heads up. A number of major financial disaster stories that are not yet common knowledge. Fraud by the big five is but window dressing. Andersen was only one of the most aggressive - but they all did same.