WurfWhile

The New York Times has an article about Ernst and Young getting a $1.7 million fine and a six month suspension of getting new business among other sanctions, which sounds pretty big at first, until you learn that the firm declined to appeal the decision. That suggests that it was ‘acceptable’ - and probably not big enough. I suppose we should be happy that Bush’s SEC even bothered to pursue the case, base on the cases that other parts of his Administration have dropped. I’m hopeful that a Kerry Administration will help clean up the act of the big accounting firms, among other businesses (and he may), but his contacts with some of the same interested business firms as Bush doesn’t make me overly confident. Nonetheless, Kerry has shown an ability to go against corrupt financial firms even if it means taking on some in his own party. There is hope for improvement.