Ernst & Young's attempts to brush aside criticism of its role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers has failed to deter critics of the profession. If anything, the accountancy firm has forged an alliance of disparate and usually antagonistic groups disturbed by the role it played alongside law firm Linklaters in providing "window dressing" for Lehman's risky financial structures.Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday he wants reform as much as Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable and Prem Sikka, the radical academic Prem Sikka, who has spent more than 20 years arguing that accountancy firms appear, like the Woody Allen character Zelig, in the foreground at every major corporate crash, only to fade from view when difficult questions are asked.In their sights are the Big Four accountancy firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which stand accused of charging excessive fees for work that appears to make little difference when things go wrong.
Ernst & Young's attempts to brush aside criticism of its role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers has failed to deter critics of the profession. If anything, the accountancy firm has forged an alliance of disparate and usually antagonistic groups disturbed by the role it played alongside law firm Linklaters in providing "window dressing" for Lehman's risky financial structures.
Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne said yesterday he wants reform as much as Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable and Prem Sikka, the radical academic Prem Sikka, who has spent more than 20 years arguing that accountancy firms appear, like the Woody Allen character Zelig, in the foreground at every major corporate crash, only to fade from view when difficult questions are asked.
In their sights are the Big Four accountancy firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which stand accused of charging excessive fees for work that appears to make little difference when things go wrong.
