Newsroom
From "After Losses, Auditors Take A Hard Line"
The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required for full article)
February 13, 2008
The Wall Street Journal reported that "Many big Wall Street firms were asleep at the switch in the years leading up to the credit crisis. At least another group -- the auditors -- seems to be minding the store." In an "Ahead of the Tape" column, the Journal's David Reilly notes that, "They fell down badly during the tech-stock bubble, but their standards seem to be pretty tight these days." Reilly added that, "Markets tend to be healthier when auditors insist that companies value their assets conservatively. "The result: Investors can place more faith in the numbers they are getting." And he points to other evidence auditors have been on the job: "Companies aren't restating previously reported results as much as they used to."
