Well written article (as you always does anycase). But having been attached with Big4s for quite a while, please let me explain the 'KPMG International' thingy. There is no sinister plan or secret around. The reason to delink each firm in each country from earlier being a global firm was only to protect it legally when something in the order of Enron happened to Arthur Andersen. A fault with the US operations of AA caused the entire global firm to crumble and crash just because the whole global operations was structured as one firm. Currently, firms such as PwC, KPMG etc are independed partnerships in each country / region bound together by a co-operative in Switzerland. KPMG International, the Swiss co-operative do not perform any audit / attest function. Each member firm does. This way, even if one of the member firm is sued, it does not affect rest of the member firms who did not have anything to do with it. I think after AA and various corporate failings, Big4s alongwith other audit firms are humbled and very careful about what they do. They have strong Risk Management.
