Satyam "strong wake-up call" for auditors: Grant Thornton

Terming the multi-crore Satyam scam as a “strong wake-up call”, global consultancy firm Grant Thornton has said the auditing profession has to live with the scandal for some time.

Terming the multi-crore Satyam scam as a “strong wake-up call”, global consultancy firm Grant Thornton has said the auditing profession has to live with the scandal for some time.

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“The ramification of the Satyam incident was a kind of a strong wake-up call for the auditing industry. The auditors have started to ponder as to what ought to have been done to avoid the fraud,” Grant Thornton global head of forensic services David Medland told PTI.

Wondering how the fraud went unnoticed for many years, he noted that “the auditing profession is both shaken and stirred”.

Medland, who has vast experience in forensic accounting and investigation, pointed out that the accounts fudging at Satyam is a “black mark” for the auditing profession and would remain so for some time.

“Whether (the) auditing process is to be blamed or not, the auditing profession has to live with it (Satyam scam),” he added.

However, Medland said that these kinds of frauds need not necessarily affect the status quo of global auditing companies working in India.