Enron’s accounting firm Arthur Anderson had begun destroying its Enron files. On October 23rd Anderson shredded more than one ton of paper. ibid.
Enron declared bankruptcy. ibid.
Since this programme was first broadcast in the US in 2009 BAE has admitted in the US to false accounting and ... guilty to a breach of duty to keep accounting records, and agreed to pay £30m in respect of separate wrongdoings concerning Tanzania. Frontline: Black Money PBS 2009
Last November, for the thirteenth year in a row, the EU’s auditors refused to sign off its financial accounts citing errors of legality and presumed attempts at fraud. Then, only two weeks ago EU politicians were openly accused of fraud and embezzlement on a massive scale and an official investigation was launched that could potentially lead to the imprisonment of a number of MEPs. Corruption, fraud and an overall lack of accountability are becoming increasingly rife amongst the European Union’s political elite and it is clearly time that ordinary citizens are given a direct say in the way that the EU is developing. Simply giving people one vote every four or five years – to elect their political representatives – is not nearly enough in any political system that still professes to be a democracy. Paul Anthony Taylor, external relations director of Dr Rath Health Foundation & campaign coordinator
Brussels Laid Bare: How the EU Treated its Chief Accountant When She Refused to Go Along With its Fraud and Waste. Marta Anderson
Blowing the Whistle: One Man’s Fight Against Fraud in the European Commission. Paul van Buitenen
I retire in seven months. Before I do, I need to know who he is. How he does it. I mean, who survives this kind of clientele. The secrets this guy has … The Accountant 2016 starring Ben Affleck & Seth Lee & Anna Kendrick & J K Simmons & Jon Bernthal & Jack Presley & Jeffrey Tambor & Cynthia Addai-Robinson & John Lithgow & Jean Smart & Andy Umberger & Alison Wright et al, director Gavin O’Connor, chief rozzer to Treasury investigator
You’re different. Sooner or later different scares people. ibid.
That’s the third accountant in a month. Who would have thought arithmetic could be so dangerous. Lock, Stock … And Two Sips, Miami Vice, Channel 4 2000
They have been called the watchdogs of capitalism, the conscience of the free market, and the pinstripe mafia – the big four auditors: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC. The Big Four Accountancy Firms Under Scrutiny, DW 42.24, 2021
But are they doing their job? In 2020 the Wirecard scandal shook Germany. ibid.
Together they employ 1.1 million in and around 150 countries … The financial statements of almost all major companies. ibid.
Taxpayer’ money was used to save banks around the world. ibid.
Auditors rarely uncover corporate scandals. ibid.
Are auditors independent from their clients? ibid.