"They're approving all funds and have decided they have control of the business manager and accountant, without signing authority or power of attorney.
With all those red flags flapping around, would Andersen still leave the decision about which documents to save, and which to destroy, entirely to Mr. Duncan, an accountant, without any input from the firm's lawyers?
Did the S.E.C. accept Global Crossing's assertion of its accountants' independence without a fuss?
Unlike the investigating magistrates, prosecutors and judges involved in Sicily's Mafia cases, this handful of lawyers and accountants work without armed escorts.One typical takeover occurred in November 2001, when police in Palermo swooped to enforce a warrant for the arrest of Francesco Zummo, an important local businessman.
"People here are trying to have a good time without accountants knowing about it, without partners knowing about it – that's really important".
It may be cheaper to run banks without security guards, hotels without housekeepers, and manufacturers without accountants, but that wouldn't make those businesses more efficient.
But Mr Bock thinks that bureaucracy-busting can only go so far: you can no more run a big company like Google without management than you can run it without lawyers, accountants or cleaners.
But for such a move to succeed Mr Shaheen must work out a new way to share the firm's profits: one that rewards the accountants for giving up consulting without preventing the consultants from luring new recruits.
In eight states accountants can collect referral fees without registering as investment advisers, as long as they don't offer any investment advice.
The inquiry, conducted by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, found contracts were awarded without the appropriate paperwork while Lutfur Rahman, the independent elected mayor, personally selected preferred companies.
