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Big beancounter12/16/2023 ![]() Antar, the former chief financial officer of Crazy Eddie, where one of the more spectacular book-cooking episodes of the modern age occurred. "While you cannot legislate competence, it can be learned," wrote Mr. Here's a small sampling of what you suggested: (To read all the responses, go to /business.)Īnd the forum generated one practical, market-oriented idea in particular that I think could actually solve the problem. Readers suggested that accounting firms be forced to publish their profits, that the Big Four accounting firms be broken up, that Arthur Andersen be revived - and even that audits be made optional. The response was terrific I was surprised at how many people have been thinking hard thoughts about accounting. For crying out loud, we used to send 'client satisfaction surveys' to our audit clients! Think that one through for a moment." As "rrgreen," a former Arthur Andersen partner, wrote on the Times Web site: "As long as the inmates hire and pay their jailers, Enron, Parmalat, Freddie, Nortel, Computer Associates, Ahold, ad infinitum, will continue to happen. The core problem is that accounting firms are still paid by the companies they are auditing. As a result, I believe, the day will surely come when accountants and corporate executives stop worrying about going to jail, and accounting fraud makes a comeback. The central point of that column was that while accounting has improved in this post-Enron, post-WorldCom era - largely because accountants have had the fear of God put in them - the underlying systemic issues have not been confronted. Antar in a posting on the online accounting forum The New York Times set up after my June 25 column dealing with the continuing problems in the accounting profession. No, that's not a line from some updated version of "To Tell the Truth." Those are the words of Sam E. of Crazy Eddie and a former C.P.A., I helped mastermind one of the largest accounting fraud and securities frauds of the 1980's."
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