Murphy & McGonigle's attorneys have represented independent auditors, audit committees, and financial officers in enforcement actions, regulatory inquiries, and litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States. We are well versed in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards. Through years of experience as senior SEC enforcement lawyers and in private practice, we know how practitioners apply those principles and how regulators interpret them. We leverage that experience and knowledge to represent clients before the SEC, PCAOB, and other regulatory bodies, and to defend clients in private securities fraud and professional malpractice actions. We understand the unique relationship between independent auditors and their attest clients, and the audit committee's critical role in corporate stewardship. That understanding informs our counsel in matters ranging from auditor independence and execution to corporate disclosures and internal investigations.
Representative engagements
- Several representations of audit partners and practice leaders of Big Four accounting firms in SEC investigations of alleged accounting fraud at attest clients.
- Represented non-U.S. member-firms of a Big Four accounting firm in an SEC investigation of alleged financial fraud at an attest client of the U.S.-member firm.
- Served as an Independent Consultant to review a Big Four accounting firm’s independence policies and procedures for the firm’s business relationships.
- Represented the former CFO of a government-sponsored entity in an SEC investigation of the entity’s disclosure about its exposure to non-prime mortgage loans and related securities.
- Represented a manufacturing company CEO-CFO in an SEC investigation of alleged accounting improprieties.
- Represented a CFO of an engineering consulting firm in an SEC investigation of accounting and disclosure issues.
- Defended a Big Four accounting firm in an action alleging violations of the 1934 Act arising from a tax strategy that the firm recommended to the plaintiff.
- Defended a Big Four accounting firm in several actions alleging common law fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and professional malpractice in connection with tax strategies recommended to several firm clients.
- Defending the former CFO of a government-sponsored entity (GSE) in three putative class actions alleging violations of the 1934 Act in connection with the GSE’s financial disclosures.