Lehmans accounting within US rules, says E&Y global chief
E&Y's James Turley defends auditing of Lehman Brothers
THE HEAD of Lehmans’ auditors said he was “confident” the bank had complied with accouting standards.
Ernst & Young global CEO and chairman James Turley, when asked by Bloomberg Television to comment about the ongoing lawsuit against the firm by NY attorney general Andrew Cuomo against E&Y over its audit of Lehmans, said “reform of the system” was needed after the banking crisis.
“…We’ve seen since Lehman failed a lot of changes in financial reporting standards, disclosure standards, SEC standards are on MDN, so we’re confident that Lehman complied with accounting standards, and that’s what the investigations have said, and also we’re disclosing properly,” said Turley.
“We are not pleased to be in the spotlight like this.”
Repo 105s, the transactions Lehmans undertook that have been in the spotlight regarding their accounting treatment, were treated properly under US accounting rules, Turley added.
“I think it’s important there be a lot more disclosure, and that’s what is coming out of both the SEC changes and the changes from the standard setters,” Turley added.
(Picture © World Economic Forum, via Flickr)