Ciesielski

It's taken out the hurdle they had to cross the last time, but people can always find a way to justify an end, said Jack Ciesielski, publisher of The Analyst's Accounting Observer.

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Ciesielski has given this strategy a wonderful name: "vest fleece."

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Ciesielski says Goelzer again replied most auditors might have had no reason to believe that the documents they were examining were false at the time.

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Ciesielski says that moderator Katherine Schipper queried Daniel Goelzer, a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board PCAOB, about whether the PCAOB will chastise auditors for failing to catch the backdating fiasco.

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006

However, Professor David Larcker, one of the conference organizers, reminded the panelists that since 1997, there has existed a body of academic literature showing opportunistic and thus potentially abusive pricing of options, Ciesielski says.

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006

Ciesielski adds that another member of the panel, Peter Klinger of BDO Seidman, chimed in that auditors don't usually devote the same amount of attention to footnotes as they do to financial statement amounts not at all comforting, Ciesielski notes, to investors who often rely on footnotes to value stocks.

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006

Heck, even the SEC uses academic literature for sussing out problems, Ciesielski adds.

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006

Ciesielski adds that Schipper, who seems to be miffed by the auditors' abysmal oversight, then asked if the auditors should have caught the misdating anyway in their audits of footnote disclosures option footnotes have been a fixture of financials since 1996, as the footnotes could have uncovered contracts with incorrect dates.

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006

That "might make the proxy statement thicker than a Manhattan phone book," Ciesielski says.

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Ciesielski says Goelzer gave this telling reply: Since accounting rules for years didn't require companies to book an expense for this compensation cost, why should auditors then be required to spend a lot of time and effort searching for malfeasance?

Where Were The Auditors? Elizabeth MacDonald 2006