A Few Spineless Auditors Peril Whole Profession
Sir David Tweedie, the chairman of the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, is rarely at a loss for strong opinions or memorable ways of expressing them.
In his latest remarks, he says it's time for auditors to dig in their heels against smarmy clients.
"You need auditors who aren't invertebrates," Tweedie told an Australian newspaper. "They are going to have to have bags of backbone. If they can't now stand up to clients, the profession is finished. You could almost say: 'Why do you need an audit?' "
To be sure, Tweedie agrees that the profession is stiffening fast. And yet, some accounting firms could still meet the same fate as Arthur Andersen.
Meanwhile, under Tweedie the IASB is pushing for a global set of standards based not on thick rule books, but on a relatively compact set of principles -- a concept embraced by some at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The IASB's changes are set to start coming into effect in 2005. The main opposition appoears to be from France's President Jacques Chirac, who's worried about the effect on banks.
More at 'Spineless' Auditors, SEC Study on Principles-Based Accounting, and the IASB.
CPA Partnership Battle Turns from Nasty to Ridiculous
Partnership breakups are never pretty. But in Johnson County, Ind., two CPAs are charging in court that their former partner -- who happens to be a prominent elected official -- hired a stripper as a personal assistant and used the firm's computers to surf for porn.
In one corner is Curtis L. Coonrod, a CPA whose firm, CLC Services, performs accounting for municipal and county government boards throughout central Indiana. Coonrod also holds a seat on the Indianapolis City-County Council.
In the other corner are CPAs Eric Reedy and Jeffrey Peters, who left CLC last year to start their own firm.
It might have been a routine contract dispute, but Reedy and Peters are accusing Coonrod of hiring an exotic dancer as his personal assistant, and allowing her to use firm funds for, among other things, lipstick, perfume and oil changes. More at the Daily Journal.
And Speaking of Backbone...
Bending over backwards may be necessary in business, but it's bad for your health, according to a CPA-turned-yoga-guru, who has ideas on better ways to bend.
Bruce Van Horn, a CPA with a Big 4 pedigree, is a management consultant with a difference: He prescribes yoga.
"Business organizations, he says, "have failed to honor the individual as a complete being with unfortunate consequences. Emotions in the workplace such as grief, depression and anger are repressed until they explode, producing disastrous results."
His company offers yoga classes to corporations to help them develop a more effective motivational model. He is the CEO of Yoga for Business, Stress Consultant, author of "Yoga for Men" and the "Healthy Living Wellness Series." More at yogaforbusiness.com.
Who knows? Maybe it's good for auditors' backbones too.
