Back to the Big 8?

Will the push toward greater corporate responsibility create more Big Four-sized accounting firms? Jay Whitehead, chief executive of the magazine the CRO, seems to think so.

Sure, Sarbox accelerated CPA scarcity in 2002. Then SEC Chairman Christopher Cox’s stock-option enforcement layered on more pressure. As a result of a CPA shortage and SEC-inspired anxieties, both the NYSE and NASDAQ report up to a ten-fold increase in companies that have delayed their quarterly or annual financial filings since 2005. Both trends cause CFOs pain. But the bigger CFO challenge comes from their lack of choice in accounting firms.

He lays out a good case.

CRO POV: Final 4 Fears [CRO]