Courtesy of Dennis Holwett I see Prem Sikka at the Guardian raise the "shelf-life" issue. There was less than a week at Thornburg Mortgage and less than 2 weeks at Carlyle Capital between when the auditors certified their accounts and they hit a material crisis.
We live in turbulent times, and the auditors cannot be blamed for the problems in the first place, but it is disappointing to see this even though in the last 7 post-Enron, SOX driven years, we have given them unprecedented power and budgets to be more invasive in their diligence and their ability to challenge managements.
In case you are wondering about Bear Stearns, Deloitte certified their annual report on January 28.
