ANTHONY H. CATANACH JR. is an associate professor in the School of Business at Villanova University, as well as the Cary M. Maguire Fellow at the American College Center for Ethics in Financial Services. His professional experience includes five years as an audit manager with KPMG and six years in the financial services industry. Dr. Catanach has received numerous awards for his publication, teaching, and curriculum innovation efforts. He has authored numerous articles on a variety of accounting, finance, and management issues, as well as several business education texts..
This year we have been outspoken critics of the Big Four’s auditing “prowess.” See “The Auditor’s Expectations GAP…Not Again! Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!” and “Who Really Cares About Auditor Rotation? Not Us!” Each of these commentaries implicitly, if not explicitly, called on these firms to make substantive, meaningful changes to their audit models so that they [...]
Recently, we enjoyed a wonderful article titled “Buyers Beware: The Goodwill Games,” by Scott Thurm who discussed an interesting rubric by which to evaluate goodwill’s value: the ratio of a company’s goodwill to the total entity’s market value. Thurm seems to suggest that companies whose goodwill exceeds market capitalization may be prime candidates for future [...]
Apr 162012
On March 1 COSO issued a “thought paper” entitled, “Enhancing Board Oversight: Avoiding Judgment Traps and Biases.” The presumed contribution of this publication is a five-step decision-making algorithm that boards of directors can use to enhance professional judgment.
Feb 132012
If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950) Darn you Caleb Newquist for depressing us with yet another example of how Big Four accounting firm leaders think, not to mention [...]
Dec 222011
With Christmas nearly upon us, these two Grumpy Old Accountants have become a bit melancholy (not totally unexpected at this time of year given our advancing ages), and have decided to ask Santa for some help in restoring the glory of our beloved accounting profession. The result: our Christmas “wish” List for Santa.
J. EDWARD KETZ is an associate professor of accounting in the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science, a master’s degree in accountancy, and a Ph.D., all from Virginia Tech. Professor Ketz has been a member of the Penn State faculty since 1981. He also has taught at the University of Connecticut and the University of Maryland. Professor Ketz has authored and edited 17 books including Hidden Financial Risk (Wiley, 2003) which examines the corporate culture and the institutional setting that engendered recent accounting scandals. Dr. Ketz has been cited in the popular and business press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Business Week, and USA Today. He also has appeared as an accounting commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and Bloomberg Radio.