What is the role of Auditing firms in cases of accounting frauds by big companies?
Since you mentioned Sathyam case in particular, I shall share the following info from internet, about their famous MNC auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, for those who do not have time to find and read the whole thing. This is just an extract: PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the Big Four auditor, alongside KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. It is one of the world’s largest professional services firms and the largest of the Big Four auditing firms. It was formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, both formed in London. PricewaterhouseCoopers earned aggregated worldwide revenues of US$26.2 billion[6] for the fiscal year 2009, and employed over 163,000 people in 151 countries. In the United States, where in 2009 it was the eighth largest privately owned organisation, it operates as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Criticisms Contraventions and Convictions: Tyco settlement In July 2007, PwC agreed to pay $229 million to settle a class-action laws
