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Did KPMG Auditors Drop the Ball on FIFA?
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The fraud was so pervasive the auditors should have discovered it. Publicly reported rumors, for years, about wrong doing should have raised a red flag. KPMG audited FIFA in Switzerland, and also the Russia and Qatar organizing committees who won tainted bids. (And others).
Probably. At a minimum, they were far too cozy and careless.The rumors so long discussed should have made the audit a high
Usually when situation is a set of conspiracy it is difficult to discover. However, FIFA it self should have the governance and internal controls in place which both should be assessed by risk advisor of the
As long as these large public CPA firms are receiving huge audit fees from thier clients, they will never be truly independent. A better arrangement might be to have these CPA firms contract with the SEC for their audit services and have the companies pay audit fees to the SEC.
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That is a concept (in general) I have been proposing for years.
It's doable, relatively easy to set-up and because the auditing firm must change every x-years, much harder to corrupt.
@Wayne:
The problem I have with that proposal, as someone who works in government in the first place, is that the average estimated effective life of regulatory requirements is about seven years. There are some academic studies that have proffered this.
That's how long it takes on average before the regulated get in bed with the regulators and corrupt the regulatory system that's been put in place.
The recent exposure of the PUC/PG&E relationship due to the San Bruno gas line rupture is a perfect example.
And, it's not just the profit motive of large public CPA firms that's driving this IMHO. It's also the individual selfishness of CPAs.
We see many discussions here of the employment desirability,
But, with only very limited exception, I've seldom heard CPAs themselves speak out against this ignorance and misuse of the designation.
Their silence is reflective of their their own self-interest and sense of self importance. But, who can blame them. It pays off. And it pays well.
CPA + MBA = CFO :-) Or, at least that's what so many employers both public and private, believe.
CPA society members acting together to 1) limit their profession to independent audit as it once was and 2) promote the highest standards of ethical conduct while ostracizing those who fail, might be the best we can hope for. i.e. restore professionalism to auditors.
Otherwise, it's just another self-promoting professional society without serious ethical boundaries. Like the state bars or the AMA. ;-(
Fraud and corruption FIFA?
"there is no fraud and corruption in FIFA! , Sir Rick, your payoff."
We need someone from AA to weigh in here. :-)
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