Why Have Rankings of All Professions Declined between 2019-2023? According to a Gallup poll during December 1-15, 2025, 78% of Americans consider nurses highly honest and ethical, making them the most trusted of 21 professions rated in Gallup’s annual measurement. Military veterans are next at 67%, followed by medical doctors (57%), and pharmacists (53%). The […]
Nurses Rank # 1 for Honesty and Ethics Read More »
Gallup Poll Provides Food for Thought I have previously blogged about the ethics and honesty of those who work in various professions based on a 2023 Gallup Poll. Gallup published its 2023 results of a survey of honesty/ethics in the professions last year. The results speak volumes about which professions are trusted by most Americans. The most ethical
How Do Accountants Rate in Honesty & Ethics? Read More »
A Conflict of Interests The PwC-Australia tax scandal was caused by a conflict of interest between PwC’s work advising the Australian government on tax laws and its work advising corporations on how to avoid those laws. This conflict of interest came to a head in 2015, when PwC leaked secret Australian Government tax plans to corporations, including Google,
The PwC-Australia Tax Scandal Read More »
Lack of Experience and Training is the Underlying Cause The following blog is taken from an interview soliciting my views on SPAC audit problems that was published by CFO Brew online by Courtney Vien on March 1, 2024. In case you needed more proof that the Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) boom is over, the PCAOB just
PCAOB Fines Withum for Quality Control Violations Read More »
SEC Comes Down Hard on Marcum LLP On June 21, 2023, the PCAOB sanctioned Marcum LLP for violating PCAOB rules and quality control standards by failing to take sufficient steps to ensure that its system of quality control provided reasonable assurance that: (1) the firm would comply with the requirements regarding the acceptance of issuer
Are SPACs on the Way Out? New Regulations are on the Horizon Read More »
Accountability for Restated Financial Statements On October 26, 2022, the SEC issued a final rule aimed at ensuring that executive officers do not receive “excess compensation” if the financial results on which previous awards of compensation were based are subsequently restated because of material noncompliance with financial reporting requirements. Such restatements would include those correcting
Clawback of Executive Compensation: Ethical Issues Read More »
Executive Pay Packages Are Out of Whack General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the highest-paid chief executive among the Big Three, made nearly $29 million in 2022. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that this is 362 times the median GM employee’s paycheck. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose the ratio of their CEO’s pay
General Motors CEO Makes 362 Times the Median Employee Read More »
What is a SPAC? The new craze on Wall Street is SPACs, or a special purpose acquisition company. SPACs are shell companies formed with the sole purpose of raising funds so it can buy an existing business. There were over 100 SPAC IPOs in 2022. They are often referred to as blank check companies because
Are SPACs the Next Financial Disaster Waiting to Happen? Read More »
Missing the Red Flags I have previously blogged about the collapse of SVB and the Signature Bank. In today’s blog, I will update the information and probe more deeply the failings of regulators and KPMG to heed the warning signs that trouble lied ahead. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, reminds me of
The Collapse of SVB and Signature Bank: Where Were the Regulators and KPMG? Read More »
Where Were the Regulators? The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, and a smaller firm, Silvergate Capital Corp., reminds me of the stream of bank failures since the 1970s that have created concerns about the ability of bank officials and regulators to oversee the liquidity and risk-taking activities of banks and other
Is the Banking System Sound? The Saga of SVB Read More »