With all the gloom and doom of the recession dominating our media over recent weeks, the regulatory issues continuing to face the accountancy profession have been largely ignored ... and indeed forgotten.
Harsh reality returned with the pictures in the press recently of the two PwC partners arrested by Indian police in connection with their investigations into the Satyam case. And, of course, February sees the BDO Seidman case being heard in the US, with the lawyers looking to join BDO International in the case.
If they are successful, there is a risk that the floodgates will open and some of the global firms and networks will face catastrophic litigation. The wheels will turn slowly ... but there will be many, both firms and clients alike, watching with interest. Expect the number of claims against international firms to rise if the case goes against BDO.
And perhaps some firms that are in those international groupings that decided to become networks might just begin to wonder whether they shouldn't be in an association. We shall see.
James Mendelssohn (jmendelssohn@msiglobal.org)
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