And then they were three

Abstract

SEBI’s ban on the Price Waterhouse group from auditing companies for two years will alter the audit scene considerably. We are not talking here of the 1970s album by the rock band, Genesis. On January 10, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) banned Price Waterhouse and group firms from auditing listed companies in India for two years for failing to detect the Satyam Computers accounting fraud. The firm has said it will appeal the order.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have already fined Price Waterhouse firms in India a total of $7.5 million, the largest against any registered foreign accounting firm. SEBI’s order comes nine years after the Satyam chairman, Ramalinga Raju, confessed to inflating the company’s cash and bank balances, trade receivables, revenue and profit running into billions of rupees. The revelation shook the stock markets and faith in Indian companies’ financial reporting and governance. Satyam has become a byword for accounting fraud, joining Enron, WorldCom and others. Read more at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/and-then-they-were-three/article10026696.ece