Sclafane Praised For 'Telling It Like It Is' About Audit Pressures

To The Editor:

Bravo to Susanne Sclafane for telling it the way it is! I hope that her April 29 column (“The Pressure to Deceive: Confessions Of A Former Auditor,” page 14) spurs a strong, healthy level of discussion and debate in actuarial, audit and accounting quarters. Most importantly, I think it's high time that all the players realized that their true client is often the public.

Sue Szkoda
President
Szkoda Actuarial Services
Marietta, Ga.

To The Editor:

As a former regulator and current CPA, I found Susanne Sclafane's column of April 29 right on point as to the financial pressures on the auditing firms and their actuaries to attest to loss reserve numbers that are agreeable to their clients.

However, somewhere in the discussion there should have been a reference to the public interest. Until the states, through their licensing authority, begin to deal with many unethical and fraudulent reports prepared by these professionals, we will continue to have these financial meltdowns in the insurance industry.

These licensing boards need proper funding, staffing and subpoena powers to bring license revocation actions against firms and individuals that continue to fail their public responsibilities.

Phillip Mathis
Mathis and Company
Austin, Texas

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, May 27 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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