Rattled Big 4 rush special teams to India
The Satyam fraud has left international audit firms, including the Big Four, in a quandary over their Indian offices. India's top 5 accounting scandals
By Sachin Dave, ET Bureau |
MUMBAI: The Satyam fraud has left international audit firms, including the Big Four, in a quandary. Sources in many of these firms say they have set up special teams abroad ��� especially in the US and the UK ��� which would inspect audits done by their Indian offices.
No one is willing to leave anything to chance with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Satyam���s statutory auditor, admitting to inaccuracies in its audits of the Hyderabad-based sofware major. There are also apprehensions of US accounting regulator Public Company Accounting Oversight Board calling auditors in India registered with it (in the US) for hearing.
A senior executive at PwC, on condition of anonymity, told ET that a top US-based official will be in India by the end of the week, along with a team of auditors. However, the executive claimed the overseas team will provide critical support to the team in India and that this visit should not be linked to Satyam.
The Satyam fraud has not just affected PwC, but has snowballed into a bigger issue with questions being raised about the credibility of other auditors as well.
A source at E&Y said that E&Y chairman and CEO James Turley may visit India soon. ���These are steps (sending auditors from the US or the UK to India) usually taken by all diligent firms whenever there is an exigency,��� said the executive.
E&Y India spokesman Girish Bhosle, however, claimed that Mr Turley had flown down to India in November 2008 and is not likely to do so anytime soon. Mr Bhosle confirmed the visit of a team from the US, but added: ���These are routine visits not linked to the Satyam saga.���
Meanwhile, a team of auditors from the New York office has already visited Deloitte���s Mumbai office after the Satyam fiasco. ���A team from US has indeed visited India but it would be unwise to share any detail at this point of time. All I can confirm (unofficially) is that it has to do with Satyam,��� a Deloitte executive said.
The official spokesperson of Deloitte said: ���We have regular visitors from the US. All is not related to the Satyam fraud.��� KPMG top executives, not wanting to be named, also said a team of international auditors will be visiting India soon.
No one is willing to leave anything to chance with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Satyam���s statutory auditor, admitting to inaccuracies in its audits of the Hyderabad-based sofware major. There are also apprehensions of US accounting regulator Public Company Accounting Oversight Board calling auditors in India registered with it (in the US) for hearing.
A senior executive at PwC, on condition of anonymity, told ET that a top US-based official will be in India by the end of the week, along with a team of auditors. However, the executive claimed the overseas team will provide critical support to the team in India and that this visit should not be linked to Satyam.
The Satyam fraud has not just affected PwC, but has snowballed into a bigger issue with questions being raised about the credibility of other auditors as well.
A source at E&Y said that E&Y chairman and CEO James Turley may visit India soon. ���These are steps (sending auditors from the US or the UK to India) usually taken by all diligent firms whenever there is an exigency,��� said the executive.
E&Y India spokesman Girish Bhosle, however, claimed that Mr Turley had flown down to India in November 2008 and is not likely to do so anytime soon. Mr Bhosle confirmed the visit of a team from the US, but added: ���These are routine visits not linked to the Satyam saga.���
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, a team of auditors from the New York office has already visited Deloitte���s Mumbai office after the Satyam fiasco. ���A team from US has indeed visited India but it would be unwise to share any detail at this point of time. All I can confirm (unofficially) is that it has to do with Satyam,��� a Deloitte executive said.
The official spokesperson of Deloitte said: ���We have regular visitors from the US. All is not related to the Satyam fraud.��� KPMG top executives, not wanting to be named, also said a team of international auditors will be visiting India soon.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
