The financial crisis was in large part about financial institutions’ cooked books. A big reason that companies such as Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed was that investors could tell from the outside looking in that their balance sheets were bogus….
That’s why it’s so disappointing to look at the SEC’s own highlights of the various lawsuits it has brought in connection with the financial crisis — and to realize that not one of those lawsuits has been against an auditor. The government didn’t just bail out the big banks back in 2008 and 2009. It bailed out their accounting firms, too. This can’t be good for investors’ confidence in the long run.
via When Will the SEC Finally Go After the Auditors? – Bloomberg View
