{"id":16755,"date":"2012-08-06T08:14:34","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T07:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=16755"},"modified":"2012-08-06T08:14:34","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T07:14:34","slug":"the-pernicious-influence-of-pwc-according-to-other-big-firms-of-accountants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2012\/08\/06\/the-pernicious-influence-of-pwc-according-to-other-big-firms-of-accountants\/","title":{"rendered":"The pernicious influence of PWC – according to other big firms of accountants"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FT reports this morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The involvement of a PwC expert in the political process of reforming European accounting law has prompted fresh concern about links between the biggest auditors and those who are supposed to regulate them.<\/p>\n

The Cypriot government borrowed a PwC technical expert to assist it with pushing forward accounting reform during its six-month presidency of the European Union, which began last month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as they also note:<\/p>\n

One senior figure at another auditor said the arrangement risked opening the door for PwC to influence reform or respond quicker to regulatory developments than competitors.<\/p>\n

Mazars, another rival, called for a \u201cthorough review\u201d of secondments by the four biggest auditors \u2014 PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG \u2014 to government departments, regulators and accounting standard-setters. \u201cAt the very least, increased transparency is long overdue,\u201d Mazars said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In its defence the FT says:<\/p>\n

Cyprus\u2019s permanent representation to the EU defended the arrangement, saying it was \u201ccommon practice for the public sector to engage experts when the necessary expertise is not available in the government\u201d.\u00a0It said the work of such experts was strictly supervised by the Cypriot government, with \u201cserious consideration\u201d given to conflicts of interest and confidentiality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In don't buy that. We know PWC seeks to have massive influence in UK politics by donating considerable\u00a0amounts of\u00a0time\u00a0to UK\u00a0political\u00a0parties - and others. Mazars concern in this respect is spot on. This is done to secure competitive\u00a0advantage, I'm sure.<\/p>\n

But there's more to it than that. This is also done to block proposals PWC does not like. So, for example, one key\u00a0proposal PWC has spent much time and effort opposing is\u00a0country-by-country reporting\u00a0which is\u00a0included in the\u00a0directives\u00a0on which it is advising. Is it really going to be open-minded\u00a0and objective on the issue? I doubt it. Nor would I be. But then, I wouldn't\u00a0represent myself as\u00a0being so. And that's the ethical difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FT reports this morning: The involvement of a PwC expert in the political process of reforming European accounting law has prompted fresh concern about
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,16,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accounting","category-ethics","category-pwc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}