Will Satyam sink PriceWaterhouseCoopers?

The very core of our economic failure is rooted in the SUBSTANTIAL LACK of INTEGRITY in our corporations. And to a substantial extent, the regulatory agencies depend on the INTEGRITY and COMPETENCE of the financial auditing firms (which has been GREATLY FLAWED in the past, esp. with Enron).

There must be an extremely high standard for the certified auditing firms because they are the "first line of defense" against corporate FRAUDS. These audting firms must be held responsible and liable for their failures to perform their jobs diligently and competently. Without this, there can be no credible "INTEGRITY" in our corporate business enterprises . . . or in the markets.

Auditing firms that become complicit in FRAUDS should be prosecuted commensurate with the corporate criminals who orchestrated frauds. Audit firms without such liabilities are of little reliable value.

Putting it as diplomatically as possible, if PWH could "overlook" a BLATANT FRAUD as large as this, it certainly has to question the INTEGRITY of ANY audits that they may have conducted.

If they cannot "see an elephant in the pasture", then how can they be expected to "find a couple of large snakes in the grass". This incident destroys any possible perception of ANY INTEGRITY in ANY audit by PWH.

When Congressmen and certified auditing firms "sell out" to the speical interests, then there can be no integrity in our economic enterprises . . . and therefore only a FOOL would invest in the markets and corporations.

When the financial institutions that form the foundation of our economy fail due to MASSIVE FRAUDS, and our most prestigious certified accounting firms are shown to have been complicit in masking or otherwise concealing such FRAUDS, then our economic system is truly "rotten to its very core".

The business and accounting standards, principles, and methods to ensure INTEGRITY are quite clear and without doubt. The auditing firms should be held 100% responsible for reporting ALL questionable practices and/or incidents to the regulatory agencies for their followup actions. Indictments and prosecutions are the only deterrents for such FRAUDS.

The management of PWH needs to be held responsible for all improprieties. PWH has violated their fiduciary responsibilities . . . PWH should be dismantled.

pwc should be punished, close the company. we trusted them but not worth it. the auditors are crooks.

I have worked with PWC auditors in the criminal investigation of Riscorp CEO Bill Griffin(I'm a database administrator). What is important to understand is that PWC functions virtually as a branch of government. The IRS for example can no longer audit many major corporations. The government depends on what companies like PWC says to establish fact in some situations where facts may be very hard to establish.

If PWC in India can't be trusted, why should PWC in the US be trusted? I tend to think that what is different is despite a lot of negative changes in recent decades, the US as a country is far less prone to corruption than India.

The thing is, if PWC can't prevent organized corruption their own organization how are they going to handle that responsibility within the United States?

The system of using companies like PWC in the US could work fairly well because the US is a low corruption country. This case suggests that system doesn't necessarily extend well into all situations.

PWC in the US has become rather dependent on Indian workers to contain costs-and has been a key factor expanding outsourcing via companies like Satyam and expansion of practices like H-1b visas. The Satyam affair suggests that PWC is simply lacks an ability to reliably assess facts concerning these practices and they should be reconsidered.

It is fundamentally impossible for a company like PWC to do a background check on anyone from India or countries like that. In a country like India, folks can be declared dead as part of a financial scam and simply be unable to get it sorted out. There are a lot folks in PWC now that have come in visa H-1b visas or similar practices--and many PWC clients have followed this example. The cost savings are pretty obvious. There are a lot of people that consider a green card a very important perk of employment. The thing is, can the US afford corruption of the type this practice may bring with it? What are the costs of expanding corruption in companies like PWC?