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Article: Comment: Big Four Are Playing With Fire In Auditing Multinationals, Says PwC - The Big Four Accounting Firms Face The Increasing Threat Of Litigation Over Multinational Audits And The Main Ratings Agencies Are In Danger Too.
- Article from:
- The Banker
- Article date:
- May 1, 2004
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A joint report by the UK partnerships of the big four accounting firms - Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) - concludes they are "betting the firms" by auditing the financial statements of multinationals. PwC noted that the risks involved in auditing are "uninsurable, unquantifiable, unmanageable and could at any time destroy our firm, or any of our competitors."
The collapse of accounting giant Andersen as a result of the Enron scandal and massive litigation claims, such as Equitable Life's oe2.6bn action against Ernst & Young, clearly highlight the vulnerabilities of the major firms. So while the world may want multinationals, the ...