The Shady Business of the Big 4

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On the surface, their mission seems quite straightforward:
To audit the world’s largest companies with one goal in mind: Ensuring that the numbers align and that the books are honest. But beneath this facade lies a sinister truth, a secret that has eluded public scrutiny for far too long: "I'm still somewhat shocked by the scale of what they've attempted to do and what what they were caught doing"

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Chapter overview:
0:00 The Shady Business of the Big 4
2:46 The Beginning of the Big 4
3:55 Where Things Went Wrong
5:47 How the Big 5 became the Big 4
7:38 The Fall of Arthur Andersen
9:26 The Beginning of the Financial Crisis
12:30 The dirty business of shell companies
14:01 A deal with the devil
16:49 The consequences of the Big 4

[JerryThomas-fgms]

Former overworked and underpaid big 4 employee here. I left the industry over a decade ago but unless things changed drastically I believe one firm cannot legally both audit and offer consulting services to the same client.

[Tele-]

There is a difference between the following two statements:
a) X audits A and X consults A, and
b) X audits A and Y consults A.

While (a) is the most obvious conflict of interest, it also simply does not happen anymore. It is forbidden by law.
At the same time, (b) is not necessarily a conflict of interest. It might be tempting to think of the Big 4 as an oligopoly, but that does not negate the competition between the four firms themselves. It is not unheard of, to people in these firms at least, that actions taken by A upon X's advice are later rejected during A's audit by Y. Remember, consulting and audit with respect to the same client cannot be provided by the same firm; (a) is not possible. Differences of opinion between X and Y can be caused even by petty shit like someone's ego, personal rivalries, or spite caused by another's lateral move to a competitor.

The video is informative but sensationalist in aspects that it didn't need to be, and the truth is probably more nuanced than it lets on.

[silvercrownwisdom]

On my very first day of working for one of the Big 4, the entire staff were ordered to shred all documents for one of the clients. There was so much chaos, and it was all about covering up. --- 15 years later I left. The schemes and politics, too much! The consulting firms are worse than the big banks. Great video.

[megalomedia]

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[sanjayshiva]

Auditors providing non-audit services to clients is immoral and not illegal. This was rampant in India but has significantly reduced/is almost non existent today (at least in Big4s) as a result of the new Companies Act which was introduced in 2013.

[homergee]

Money = Rights, the more you have the more you can get away with.

[lancecruz]

That editing is just amazing. Awesome work!

[adodragicevic]

I never wanted to work in one of these companies as working for them seemed like hell, having heard the working conditions of the employees.

[logie]

You cannot audit and provide consulting services to the same company

[FBi_.]

You should do one on the big 3 for the music industry

[finefeeling]

What a way to start the work day! Thank you for another great documentary

[nonameanon]

Are there any major or midcap accounting firms on the stock market? If so who?

[ttmdrac]

yh the solution is to separate the jobs. you can’t have consultants and auditors trying to make a profit with the big companies while simultaneously trying to help the government create more tax laws

[usmanchez]

1:27 bro tf there is no Kazakhstan on the map?

[indranildas__a]

That's the reason they are not listed into any security markets.

[sutejotan]

@14:11 Australia please.... check and re-check

[SaucePersonal]

Theres alot of comments about how its illegal for auditors to consult/advise their audit clients. That is correct.

However, consultants at the same firm can consult for those clients. Ive seen it with my own eyes as a former Big4 employee.

[mwincorporated]

Great video! how do you create such edits? After Effects or what? Thanks

[ranatuj]

If there is a law that prohibited Auditing and consulting same company same time this can be prevented.

[AnjaliPayneeandy-kb]

It is unavoidable. What humans can’t do and that is deemed unethical, AI can do. AI has no legal personality yet, and can be used to detect financial and tax loopholes and then who can say that it exercised its duties unethically or that there was conflict of interest?🤷🏻‍♀️
BEPS action plans are around and if there’s a leeway around then it’s not illegal.