More examples of accounting fraud

[Beestie]

Of course Arthur Andersen openly cooked the books for so many companies that also contributed to the George Jr bribery fund. Where is prosecution of top Arthur Andersen executives who cooked those books?

Of course, it was the Clinton administration that, in exchange for a bundle of DNC soft money, changed the long-standing rule that a firm's accountant could NOT also serve as a firm's managing consultant. This breach has led to an unresolvable conflict of interest that is at the root of many of the corporate scandals we have seen since Clinton allowed the rule change. The conflict makes it extremely difficult for an accounting firm to give an unfavorable opinion of a company's financials since, to do so, would almost certainly cost the accounting firm the managment consulting contracts that they have with that firm. This institutional bribery was never possible before Clinton changed the rules. And these scandals didn't start on Jan 4, 2000, either - the seeds were sown years before. To blame this on Bush is as partisan as it is groundless.

When accounting firms can ONLY serve as a firm's accountant and not have access to all their other business the conflict of interest will vanish and the public will start getting some honest opinions about their clients' financials.