There are three sets of perps behind the current financial crisis; the banks, the rating agencies (paid by the banks to classify their junk debt as AAA) and the auditors (paid by the banks to say their balance sheets smell of chocolate and roses).
And the role of the auditors in this crisis has at last been recognised by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, who have called for the Office of Fair Trading to complete a detailed investigation of the auditors.
Not that I expect anything major to happen.
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From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8415860/House-of-Lords-report-attacks-complacency-of-Big-Four-auditors-in-financial-crisis-urges-competition-investigation.html
House of Lords report attacks 'complacency' of Big Four auditors in financial crisis, urges competition investigation
House of Lords has recommended that Britain's competition authorities investigate the world's "Big Four" auditing firms who failed to warn regulators about banks before the financial crash.
A report by the upper chambers' Economic Affairs Committee said PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG dominated the UK audit market for large companies.
In 2010 they audited 99 of the companies in the FTSE 100, which on average only change auditors "every 48 years".
"It is clearly an oligopoly with all the attendant concerns about competition, choice, quality and conflict of interest. It gave no warning of the banking crisis," said the report, published on Wednesday.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2011
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