Auditors' reaction on Satyam saga

News of cooked up numbers in the Satyam Computers balance sheet has rattled the accounting profession. Here are a few reactions.

Richard Rekhy, COO, KPMG in India

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India will do an investigation of its own to check whether there was an audit failure. The council has its own disciplinary committee that will see whether adequate due diligence was ensured by the auditor.

An independent investigating agency can probe the role of the senior management, the banks, other directors, because the amount involved is also too huge.

Since it is an SEC-registered company, there will be an independent investigation from the US also. Overall, I think it is a loss of reputation for the accounting profession and will also throw up the role of independent directors in the whole matter.

Suresh Surana, chairman, RSM India

It needs to be ascertained whether any documentary evidence was presented to the auditors, on whether that was forged. Also since it is regarding large sums of money, what was the role of the banks?

This would now show that there is too much focus on the short-term performance of a company, on quarterly performance. This is sometimes at the expense of the long term status of the company.