Greg Medcraft makes the most of his final week at ASIC.

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David Rowe Joe Aston AFR Woodcut Share on Facebook Share on twitter by Joe Aston So, in the dying days of his stewardship of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Greg Medcraft has made the astonishing observation that Australia's corporate auditors are producing work of "appalling" quality. "What level of trust can you put in the financial statements if you're getting results like that?" he told this newspaper last week, ahead of his retirement this Friday. "One of the risks is that we will have a major collapse and it will turn out that the financial statements were materially misstated." While the big four accounting firms have taken high-pitched exception to his appraisal – including his claim that Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers had "privately acknowledged" their quality issue, "but publicly wanted to keep a lid on questions" – we couldn't agree with it more! But it is ASIC and ASIC alone that is responsible for regulating auditors. Medcraft is effectively conceding that the corporate cop on his watch has utterly failed at that task. And again, we wholly agree with him. Talk about an irony bypass, casting this entirely fair aspersion on the very same day Medcraft's top financial reporting executive Doug Niven had meekly closed his investigation into the labyrinthine FY16 accounts of retail franchisor Harvey Norman, signed off by EY partner Katrina Zdrillic, since replaced by colleague "Sugar" Renay Robinson. ASIC chair Greg Medcraft circulated this photo to media of himself watching the AFL Grand Final on September 30. As you do. ASIC chair Greg Medcraft circulated this photo to media of himself watching the AFL Grand Final on September 30. As you do. Supplied "We do not intend to make further inquiries with [Harvey Norman] in relation to [the FY16 Financial Report], in particular whether franchise stores should be consolidated by Harvey Norman." Niven did add the caveat that the accounts' compliance with the Corporations Act shouldn't be inferred (or otherwise), and that he might review subsequent accounts, including, presumably, the FY17 books just endorsed by Sugar Renay. Related Quotes HVN SGH 5 YEARS 1 DAY Last updated: Updating... View full quote Company Profile ASX Announcements View all announcements This follows ASIC's stellar work on the FY15 accounts of market disaster Slater & Gordon. It began probing the listed law firm in June 2015 (when the shares were trading north of $6) and closed the book without action in March, after nearly two years, by which time the shares were 13¢. Those shares were rendered completely worthless by the company's recent recapitalisation. After a tediously public campaign for his next taxpayer-funded sinecure, originally the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, now confirmed to be the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, and a foreign travel schedule (including the ludicrous World Economic Forum in Davos, two consecutive January trips for which we paid tens of thousands of dollars). There were moments we feared Medcraft's final week would never come. HVN SGH Share via Email Share on Google Plus Post on facebook wall Share on twitter Post to Linkedin Share on Reddit Commercial Real Estate Related Articles Stefanovic won't turn up, Craigie couldn't get in Crestone's accounts show good financial advice doesn't come cheap Bizoids bid Medcraft adieu Big four hit back at Medcraft Medcraft slams audit quality of big four Latest Stories Wilbur Ross: "We have no business ties to those Russian individuals who are under sanction." 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