There were a number of things that happened in the big 4 accounting firms world in the second week of February. PwC was back in court regarding their MF Global lawsuit. EY was fined for an audit by one of their Indonesia member firms, and KPMG selected their inaugural Data and Analytics Master’s class.

 

EY Indonesia Fined

PwC back in court over MF Global

As you may recall PwC settled a lawsuit earlier this year that threatened its existence. That case was the Taylor Bean case that we covered here in great detail.

Taylor bean’s bankruptcy trustee was seeking $5 billion in damages.

PwC is facing another such case with MF Global. The MF Global moderator is also seeking billions of dollars. The MF Global moderator is seeking $3 billion in damages which is a decrease from their initial request of $10 billion in damages.

That case was all set to go to jury selection this next week, but both parties have agreed to seek mediation first. The judge wanted them to seek out mediation before the case goes to a lengthy trial.

The law firm representing PwC in the MF Global case is the same law firm that defended them in the taylor bean case. The name of the firm is King & Spalding. There is also a key witness in the MF Global case that was utilized in the Taylor Bean case. The witness is Lynn Turner who was a key witness in the Taylor bean case.

This mediation could result in a settlement, but if not the judge said that he would get them back on the court calendar in a matter of weeks.

Will PwC settle the case? Discuss your thoughts in the PwC MF Global forum topic.

EY Indonesia fined by PCAOB

EY has had some trouble this year.

Ernst & Young settled with SEC over their audit of Weatherford.

EY also settled with SEC over independence issues.

They have once again settled with a regulatory agency. This time EY is settling with the PCAOB.

The Indonesian member firm of EY was fined $1 million for audit failure, noncooperation and standard violations. This really shows the PCAOB’s global reach here.

The fine relates to a 2011 audit of an Indonesian telecommunications company.

There was a lot of trickery going on in this investigation. The PCAOB stated that workpapers were being created during the investigation. It will be interesting to see whether EY has another bad year of audit sanctions.

Do you think EY will have another bad year? Discuss your thoughts in our EY 2017 sanctions forum topic.

KPMG’s Inaugural Data Analytics class selected

Last week KPMG selected the inaugural class for their Masters of Accounting with Data and Analytics program.

We previously covered that KPMG will pay for your masters degree if you choose to major in their data and analytics program.

The first class of 52 students was selected last week. Each participating university, Ohio State and Villanova, will have 26 students.