The PCAOB Settlement in Satyam: PwC Agrees to Fall on its Pen-Knife

“Two aristocrats challenge each other to see which can come up with the larger number. The second agrees to the contest, concentrates for a few minutes, and proudly announces, “Three.” The proposer of the game is quiet for half an hour, then finally shrugs and concedes defeat.”

-- John Allen Paulos, “Innumeracy,” 1988

 

 The PCAOB’s April 5 settlement with the Indian firms of the PwC network, over the billion-dollar fraud at Satyam Computer Services Limited, adds a $1.5 million fine to the six million dollars the auditors also agreed to cough up to the SEC.

(Statements from the agencies are here and here; see Going Concern for the orders; and the NYT for statements from PwC.)

The amount compares to the aggregate salary of the five PCAOB members of $2,366,000. It would be a small fraction of either the annual compensation of PwC’s global chief Dennis Nally, or the firm’s legal fees on Satyam to date. And even measured by the $ 550 million ponied up by Goldman Sachs under its August 2010 SEC settlement of its one-issue dispute over the “Abacus” derivative peddled by its fabulous Fabrice Tourre (here), the amount is derisory. 

The Big Four giant is still facing on-going investor claims, to be sure. But the exposure is well-fenced; the Supreme Court’s June 2010 decision in Morrison closed the doors of the American courts to foreign securities claimants who bought their shares abroad, and the inexperienced Indian judicial system lacks the competence to be an attractive plaintiffs’ venue.

Consider the motives from the regulatory perspective. The settlement timing ahead of the April 6 hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on the role of the accounting profession in the financial crisis (here) gave senior officials a public forum. And the media coverage allowed the SEC’s enforcement head Bob Khuzami and FCPA unit chief Cheryl Scarboro, and the PCAOB’s chairman Jim Doty and his enforcement head Claudius Modesti, all to strut their achievement against foreign auditors – even while avoiding the obligation actually to try their case across international borders.

From the PwC perspective, meanwhile, the chance for a cheap exit from a major problem would have been a no-brainer. Consider:

First, an enforcement ding on the Satyam engagements had to be coming, sooner or later. From the PCAOB’s order – which PwC agreed not to contest – the Indian engagement teams on the audits from 2005 through 2008 basically did not:

• Adequately audit the company’s cash positions
• Control the confirmation process on bank balances or accounts receivable
• Pursue indications of inconsistent information or control weaknesses
• Follow PwC global directives on audit execution
• Inform or advise higher-level quality oversight personnel
• Document the work actually done (or not) in the work-papers, until subsequent back-dating while already under regulatory scrutiny

So a strategic decision not to defend the indefensible indicates early recognition of a step toward sustainable credibility. 

As for the sanctions – PwC’s undertakings on future practice quality, staffing, training and internal oversight are no more than necessary for an enterprise with aspirations to professionalism; the two-year presence of an outside monitor only adds one more stranger to the list of foreign intruders imposed on its Indian practice; and the six-month restraint on new SEC clients runs only to the settling Indian firms, so does not inhibit either the global network or its other Indian affiliates.

And, lastly, the financial impact of the fines on the massive PwC network is no more than a dime added to a roll of nickels.

For good measure, with the week’s news cycle dominated by military activities in Libya and a threatened government shut-down in Washington, and subsidiary attention to post-earthquake Japan’s nuclear hazards and Silvio Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” trial, the entire story will drop off the media screen in less than no time.

Predictably, critics of the accounting profession who are unwilling to settle for less than the scalps of the Big Four leaders nailed to an enforcer’s door will make their outrage known.

But they will fail to acknowledge that both the regulators and PwC itself are only acting in full accordance with their respective DNA.

So once again, this settlement points up the challenge to the long-term achievability of a valuable, sustainable assurance function, to serve the issuers and users of the financial information of global-scale companies: the terms of the discourse are revealed as hopelessly inadequate.

 

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Comments

[Robert F. Kelley]

Not a complex situation...your conclusion is "spot on".

Only comment missing is the old nautical phrase paraphrased..."auditors are as useless as screen-doors on a submarine".

[Seattle IT Support]

Nice concept and point of view. Very knowledgeable and intriguing. Keep up the good work!

[Computer Services Seattle]

This post really deserves to have lot of feed backs from all the readers. Looking forward to see your upcoming post. :) Thank you for sharing!