IT Projects: Expert Witness, CIO, In-House Counsel & Litigation Forum

Would you sign off on this audit? What’s a going concern in this business climate?

The suggestion here is for audit companies to re-connect with their real core value.  Perhaps the wording should be "to find what's been missing ...their real core  value."              Marlene

Previously posted by Brian Sommer December 17th, 2008

http://blogs.zdnet.com/sommer/?p=267

Are Audited Financial Statements of Value Anymore?

Auditors will surely do a lot of head scratching in the coming months as they decide which of their clients’ books are prepared as:
- going concerns
- breakup basis
- going concern but with an expression of doubt as to the firm’s future

I’ve looked at the last audited statement for Bear Stearns and the audit was essentially unqualified and yet Bear Stearns failed. I don’t have time to examine the annual reports for Circuit City, General Motors, Tweeter, Wachovia, Citi, Mervyns and many other firms that have struggled in 2008 but I bet a number of them had audits that were prepared on a going concern basis.

This question is at the heart of some concern as to the role of auditors. Are auditors really taking a close look at all of the forces that are impacting the viability of a firm or are they concerned mostly with the historical financial statements? The latter is acceptable if an accountant is making no judgment call re: the immediate viability of a firm. But, if employees, shareholders and other constituents are relying on auditors to perform a thorough assessment of a firm’s situation, then auditors must do more.

Specifically, auditors should and must opine on the following:

- Audit clients that buy, sell, trade or originate ‘opaque’ financial instruments (e.g., collateralized debt obligations of sub-prime mortgages) are by their nature trying to hide the true nature of the product they are selling. Logically, one cannot render an opinion on the viability of a business that sells opaque products as one cannot understand the risks, liabilities or future obligations these products may manifest.

Google called off Yahoo deal as DOJ closed in

For what reason might Google and Yahoo have waited right up to the last minute?  Was someone holding out for better terms, which would have made it worthwhile to go ahead, even faced with a long, drawn out legal wrangle with the government?  Will the whole story ever surface?    Let us know if you have any ideas about how this played out.                          Marlene

Previously appeared on Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Posted by Heather Havenstein 

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122498&intsrc=hm_list

(Computerworld)  Google Inc. called off its proposed search advertising deal with Yahoo Inc. just three hours before the U.S. Department of Justice was to file an antitrust complaint on Nov. 5 aimed at blocking it, according to the lawyer that the government hired to pursue the case.

In an interview with the legal blog AMLaw Daily published Dec. 2, Sandford Litvack -- the attorney who would have been the lead counsel on the antitrust case -- said that Google and Yahoo decided to abandon the proposed deal shortly after DOJ officials informed them of the agency's plans to file the antitrust complaint.

Shortly after the deal -- which would have had Yahoo running Google advertisements alongside its own search results -- was announced in June, Google and Yahoo came under fire from large advertiser groups, which charged that the arrangement would diminish competition and raise online advertising prices.

And an antitrust think tank said the partnership could end up as a "black hole that swallows up Yahoo," thus justifying an antitrust investigation.

Advertiser Group Objects to Google-Yahoo Tie Up

Well, it will be interesting to see what other entities will be jumping on the bandwagon to voice either approval or disapproval of this proposed Google partnership/venture.  Does affiliation with Google in this kind of deal really make more sense for Yahoo than the Microsoft bid they refused earlier this year?  Any thoughts and comments from all of you out there?      Marlene

By Reuters  2008-09-08 http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Search/Advertiser-Group-Objects-to-GoogleYahoo-Tie-Up/

The Association of National Advertisers sent a letter objecting to the proposed Internet search advertising partnership between Yahoo and Google to government regulators reviewing the deal, the group said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Association of National Advertisers sent a letter objecting to the proposed Internet search advertising partnership between Yahoo Inc and Google Inc to government regulators reviewing the deal, the group said on Sunday.

U.S.The letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett, noted that "a Google-Yahoo partnership will control 90 percent of search advertising inventory," the ANA, which represents major U.S.advertisers, said in a statement.

The partnership "will likely diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices currently available and potentially raise prices to advertisers for high quality, affordable search advertising," the statement said.

Barnett could not be reached for comment on Sunday.