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PwC Faces Damages That Range From ‘Bad’ to ‘Worse’ But Probably Far Short of ‘Catastrophic’ for Colonial Bank Failure

Posted on by Caleb Newquist
pwc colonial award

Francine McKenna reports on MarketWatch that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. stands to collect a pret-tay pret-tay pret-tay big chunk of change from PwC for the losses from the bankruptcy of Colonial Bank.

The FDIC, acting as receiver for the failed Colonial Bank Group that collapsed in 2009, has asked Judge Barbara Rothstein to award it $625 million in compensation for the net losses it sustained in paying depositors and other creditors of the bank from the federal deposit insurance fund.

Even PwC’s offer of $306 million would result in the largest-ever final judgment or jury verdict for accounting malpractice, and the fifth-largest accounting malpractice award ever, according to data compiled by research firm Audit Analytics.

Rothstein is not required to accept either version of the damage estimates.

Jim Peterson pegged the tipping point for a Big 4 failure last year at somewhere between $4 billion and $6 billion, so PwC will be fine. However, because all the other recent settlements PwC has reached have been confidential, we have no way of knowing what the firm has agreed to pay out in the last 12-18 months. It’s unlikely that the total sum has reached Peterson’s danger zone, but it’s not impossible that the firm has shelled out the equivalent of a so-so year at Grant Thornton.

[MW]

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Satyam: Does Anyone Mind if We Take Another Three Months to Finish Our Restatements?

With just a couple weeks until the June 30 deadline for the company to issue its restated financial statements, Satyam is requesting just a little more time to get this mulligan nailed down. Three months to be precise.

Yes, they’re completely aware that it’s been nearly 18 months since the shit hit the fan. And yes, this is the third time they’ve asked India’s Company Law Board (“CLB”) for an extension on the filing but at this point they figure expectations are so low, no one will get too worked up over it.


Except for an “analyst with a leading brokerage house.” who is quoted in the Business Times, “There is no clarity on what is happening within the company. They should have at least provided the current sales figure or the bench strength. How is the shareholder supposed to rate their stock?”

Since more than a few people might be caught up in “sales figures” and whatnot, Satyam went to the trouble to let everyone know that they’re working hard, ordering in, etc. etc. so you can rest your pretty little heads:

A Satyam official said, “The records have been under the custody of investigating agencies and we recently got a court clearance. Also, our auditors (KMPG and Deloitte) told us they need some more time for the restatement. It’s only a matter of a quarter.”

See? It’s just a matter of a quarter. Plus, you can’t really blame them – KPMG and Deloitte are the ones saying they need more time. Satyam has likely been bugging them for months about wrapping up but KPMG and Deloitte are probably complaining, saying things like, “we can’t find any documentation to supports these numbers” and “this doesn’t add up.”

So, TFB if some whiny analysts don’t like it. We’ll just find out just how big of nightmare these financial statements will be in due course.

Deloitte Associate Who Supports Occupy Wall Street Admits That His Idea of Camping is the W Hotel

[caption id="attachment_51784" align="alignright" width="260" caption="Source: NYP"][/caption]

As you know, a number of people in Lower Manhattan have spent the last two months Occupying Wall Street by way of camping out in Zuccotti Park. While September and October proved to be unseasonably warm, thus allowing Occupiers to exercise their 1st Amendment rights in relative comfort, November has brought cooler temps which has caused some relative discomfort among the campers. Oh, and Mayor Bloomberg was sorta sick of the mess and had everyone’s tents forcibly removed.

While many protesters have had to seek less squalid accommodations, other supporters of the movement have been able to find quarters that are more suitable for their tastes. This includes Deloitte associate Brad Spitzer who has been traveling to New York from California for work and has taken the opportunity to get his occupy on. And while he’s enthusiastic about the cause, Spitzer isn’t exactly down for park living:

“Tents are not for me,” he confessed, when confronted in the sleek black lobby of the Washington Street hotel where sources described him as a “repeat” guest.

Spitzer, 24, an associate at financial-services giant Deloitte, which netted $29 billion in revenue last year, admitted he joined the protest at Zuccotti Park several times.

“I’m staying here for work,” said Spitzer, dressed down in a company T-shirt and holding a backpack and his suitcase. “I do finance, but I support it still.”

You guys understand. There are just certain comforts that a Green Dot employee gets accustomed to – a soft mattress, a hot shower, room service – no matter how good of a drum circle you find.

Occupy Wall Street protesters stay at $700-a-night hotel [NYP]

Are Other Small Big 4 Offices at Risk of Closure?

closed.jpgEditor’s Note: Francine McKenna is a regular contributor to Going Concern
We came across a report in the Birmingham Business Journal (subscription required for full article) describing the reduction in professionals of the KPMG office there from 63 to 39 after two rounds of layoffs.
While there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the office will be closing, the reduction is significant enough to get us wondering if there hadn’t been talk about pulling the plug altogether.


On that note, we recalled the Manchester, NH closure we reported on last month and we called up the folks in Live Free or Die country to get the latest. While the receptionist was very helpful, the person we were eventually connected to decided that hanging up on us was the best course of action.
Undeterred, we reached out to E&Y’s national PR team and they provided us with the following statement:

After careful consideration and based on our analysis of the market, we have decided to close our Manchester office by the end of November. As part of that process, a number of our people will transfer to the Boston office, and our clients will be served from the Boston office.

Unfortunately, since “a number of our people will transfer to the Boston office” we can only assume that there will be a number of people that will not transfer to Boston.
We reached out to all the Big 4 firms regarding this issue, with E&Y being the only one to respond and they only addressed the Manchester office specifically. Wanting more perspective, we asked our contributor, Francine McKenna, for her thoughts:

Small office closures mirror the fortunes of local economies they operate in, including the limited number of clients some offices have been built on. Often just one/two parters wanting to be closer to home, have Managing Partner title.

There has been a considerable amount of chatter regarding office closures so we decided a thread on the issue was due. Discuss your thoughts/speculation on office closures (including any more details on E&Y Manchester) for your firm in the comments and keep us updated with your tips.

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