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EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

economist.com

151–160 of 303 posts

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m not sure why certain businesses should be “banned” because YOU believe they do not add value. Do you pay them? No. Yes, whenever they are hired by the public sector. http://recreation.gov is one example in the US I know about.

So the public sector should not hire private contractors in general. State it like that then. How is a mismanagement of consultants by public sector entities a justification to “ban” an entire sector?

I was objecting to "you don't pay them" specifically.

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#152
post #148

EY, Mckinsey, Accenture, BCG all of them should be banned. They were the big proponent of the the just in time management principles in the hospitals in the Netherlands. Then when covid came they were the first the market on twitter & linkedin for advice how to improve your health inventory & deal with covid challenges. Serious impact with zero skin in the game. These consultants are parasites. They are mainly used a…

My partner works at one of these big four companies and the way she puts it - they essentially function as outsourced expertise for governments the world over - essentially expert functions have been hollowed out of state governments and into the private sector and thus there is really no expertise within the national government level to handle complex tax and accounting situations and they are instead all outsourced…

Yeah but then the experts at the big 4 are 23 year old grads with no experience. I don't get it.

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? 5 years? That seems really harsh. Is it all business failures or does it have to be due to mismanagement? I've heard the climate is very hostile to businesses in Germany; my sister in law was trying to sell art on etsy and apparently she had to get a business license to do so in Germany. She's now back in the USA where she can just sell stuff online and the only thing she needs to do is file her taxes correct…

> Really? 5 years? That seems really harsh. Is it all business failures or does it have to be due to mismanagement? There’s a big difference between bankruptcy and business failure. Plenty of businesses fail without entering bankruptcy, they’re wound down responsibly and their creditors are repaid in full. If a company fails due to bankruptcy, then it means that people who lent money to that business are out of pocke…

So just bring in another CEO just for the bankruptcy. Currently that's not an uncommon practice in the US. Of course this new CEO would have to be a one-use fall guy with somebody else actually doing the job...

> If you prove yourself unable use that privilege responsibly

Good luck determining whose actually to blame and who is innocent... at the end of the days only unlucky small to medium business owners who can't afford expensive lawyers or consultants will suffer from such a policy.

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#154
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the public sector should not hire private contractors in general. State it like that then. How is a mismanagement of consultants by public sector entities a justification to “ban” an entire sector?

Well the least they can do is force band auditing companies from offering consulting services because that is a clear conflict of interest..

That I do agree with.

BCG and McK don’t offer auditing.

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the public sector should not hire private contractors in general. State it like that then. How is a mismanagement of consultants by public sector entities a justification to “ban” an entire sector?

I was objecting to "you don't pay them" specifically.

With governments having like 30-50% GDP share of the economy (e.g., tax versus GDP) - we are gonna have a hard time banning literally everything based on that…

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#157
post #152
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner works at one of these big four companies and the way she puts it - they essentially function as outsourced expertise for governments the world over - essentially expert functions have been hollowed out of state governments and into the private sector and thus there is really no expertise within the national government level to handle complex tax and accounting situations and they are instead all outsourced…

Yeah but then the experts at the big 4 are 23 year old grads with no experience. I don't get it.

Lends even more plausible deniability when processes aren't followed, or a "mistake" is made (possibly at the behest of the client).

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#158
post #152
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner works at one of these big four companies and the way she puts it - they essentially function as outsourced expertise for governments the world over - essentially expert functions have been hollowed out of state governments and into the private sector and thus there is really no expertise within the national government level to handle complex tax and accounting situations and they are instead all outsourced…

Yeah but then the experts at the big 4 are 23 year old grads with no experience. I don't get it.

Because approaching 30 and being in the senior consultant, (junior) manager and director positions ones primary job at Deloitte becomes selling / pitching work that those below you will do.

I was a Deloitte manager.

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are "professional scapegoats" IMO, companies pay them to take the blame and their business model seems to be: collect fees, do an "audit", pay the fine, keep the spread.

Audit results are taken very seriously by companies operating in heavily regulated industries that intend to stay in business, so healthcare, finance, insurance etc. If you are a team lead doing programming for one of these sorts of companies and the auditors come round with some findings, I promise you that you need to take it deadly seriously. I've seen engineers fired for cause by the board of directors of a fortu…

What does "failing to do so" look like most times, if you don't mind me asking?

Re: EY gets banned from new audit business in Germany

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? 5 years? That seems really harsh. Is it all business failures or does it have to be due to mismanagement? I've heard the climate is very hostile to businesses in Germany; my sister in law was trying to sell art on etsy and apparently she had to get a business license to do so in Germany. She's now back in the USA where she can just sell stuff online and the only thing she needs to do is file her taxes correct…

> Really? 5 years? That seems really harsh. Is it all business failures or does it have to be due to mismanagement? There’s a big difference between bankruptcy and business failure. Plenty of businesses fail without entering bankruptcy, they’re wound down responsibly and their creditors are repaid in full. If a company fails due to bankruptcy, then it means that people who lent money to that business are out of pocke…

Germany is not small to medium business friendly. No need to argue about that.
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