Director Resigns at Wellcare Health [WSJ]
Regina Herzlinger was the chair of the audit committee of WellCare Health Plans, Inc., a Tampa-based provider of Medicaid and Medicare plans, but resigned last week amid controversy around the company’s accounting practices. The Wall St. Journal reports that Ms Herzlinger said that internal audits discovered the company overbilled the Illinois Medicaid program by $1 million “and potentially overcharged states for almost $500,000 worth of maternity care.” She also stated that the company “ran afoul of Georgia’s requirements that it account for each patient visit for which it paid providers, resulting in a $610,000 fine.”
WellCare also paid an $80 million fine to the State of Florida last May for a criminal investigation “into allegations that it had defrauded Florida benefits programs for low-income adults and children” as well as $10 million to the SEC for an investigation into its accounting. At least they’re keeping some attorneys busy.
Ms Herzlinger alleges that she was not renominated to her position on the board of directors for raising questions about the accounting practices at the WellCare as well as corporate-governance issues.
The Company claims that “good corporate-governance practices require it to bring in new board members periodically to provide a fresh perspective,” so at least they’ve got that point covered. The Journal also reports that the company is pulling the materiality card, saying that the “accounting errors Ms. Herzlinger identified were relatively small and the company’s own internal controls indentified them, indicating that its processes are working well.”
Lehman Investors Add Auditor Ernst & Young to Suit Over Deals [Bloomberg]
Charlie Perkins, the Lucas van Pragg of Big 4 accounting firms, has to be getting sick of repeating himself:
“Throughout our period as the auditor of Lehman, we firmly believe our work met all applicable professional standards, applying the rules that existed at the time.”
Countrywide Investors Said to Settle Lawsuit for $600 Million [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
KPMG is listed as one of fifty defendants in the lawsuit in California.
Companies Feeling More Pressure to Cut Iran Ties [NYT]
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young have both cut their ties with Iran, following KPMG, the Times reports. This results in grand total of zero Big 4 firms with affiliates in Iran.
United Against Nuclear Iran (“UANI”) President Mark Wallace received letters from both PwC and E&Y:
This week, Mr. Wallace’s group received letters from both PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young assuring the group that they had cut ties with Iranian firms. PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote that the Middle East member of the company’s global network had had a “cooperating firm relationship” with Agahan & Company, an Iranian firm, but that it expired last year. Ernst & Young said it cut its ties in 2001 to the Tadvin Company, one of Iran’s largest accounting firms, even though Tadvin was still listed on its Web site this year.
Mr. Wallace called that a breakthrough because by publicly avoiding Iran, the American accounting firms that audit so many other companies send an important signal. “What it says is if it’s too risky for the Big Four accounting firms,” he said, “it should be too risky for other companies.”
It’s pretty obvious Mr Wallace doesn’t know anything about Big 4 accounting firms re: risk.
A manifesto for accountants [Tax Research UK]
Richard Murphy has some suggestions for the Accountancy Age manifesto.
Repo 105 Explained With Numbers and Detail [The Summa]
“Right now, I just don’t see what the big fuss is all about. The number differentials are just too small. Although a repugnant practice, Lehman didn’t accomplish much of anything with Repo 105 use.”