The state would have to build a costly and oppressive infrastructure to audit private assets.As to one-time levies, Germany's constitution prohibits them except in dire emergencies, according to Paul Kirchhof, a former constitutional judge.
But first, they'd probably have to mount legal offensives against unruly media owners, punishing those who fail to toe the line with tax audits, asset seizures and anything else they can drum up to force them to sell.
We report an experiment that examines how experienced auditors apply current PCAOB guidance when auditing portfolios of these assets.
Objectives then need to be aligned, assets audited and the full nature of the activity fully defined.
Imagine for a moment that you were auditing a company whose principal asset was trees that it would eventually cut down to sell the timber.
He examined Andersen's performance in auditing the company's 2000 accounts, which showed $468 million in net assets.
Within industries, auditing is even more concentrated: the top two firms audit 95% (by assets) of America's petroleum and coal businesses, and 86% of the airline industry.More is betterThe lack of competition poses vexing problems.
Less than 40% of companies with more than $100 million of assets are audited annually, down from 80% in 1980.
Aylward, now 48, had been toiling away in Phoenixs asset management arm since he joined in 1996 after leaving Price Waterhouses auditing department.
The company has sold assets, laid off tens of thousands of workers and outsourced everything from manufacturing to (wisely, perhaps) internal auditing.
Some 13% of funds audited in the four asset-management companies set up by the ministry to handle the state-owned banks' non-performing assets were found to involve irregularities.
