Satyam scam: what was PwC's role?

With all the Satyam mess yet to be fully sorted out, my concerns are directed towards PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditing firm hired by them. Inasmuch the fault lies with the top brass for trying to cook books, it is another thing for the entrusted watchdogs to fail in their duty.

An accounting failure can mean one of two things: either PwC was hand in hand with Satyam or whatever documents provided to them were false and forged by Satyam honchos themselves. Either way, PwC failed miserably in it's duties. But if there was some sort of forgery then more than 2-3 people would have to be involved, going against the logic suggested by Ramalinga Raju that not many on the board knew the truth.

Several articles claim that DSP Merrill Lynch found out immediately(they were apparently approached for help with a merger) that there were serious accounting issues, while PwC found out nothing for years.

It could well and truly be a mirror of Enron, which brought down top dog Arthur Andersen. As the linked articles suggest, US law firms will make hay flaying both Satyam and PwC. It might well be the end of PwC, who I know even handle the Academy Awards(sending out the ballots, counting the votes and ensuring noone knows the results until the envelope is opened on stage).

At the same time, the plight of employees and shareholders is much harder to come to terms with because of a more personal note, with friends sharing their concerns for their friends.

This mega fiasco has sent the markets tumbling and shows that the horizon is dark: Indian companies will be taken on with suspicion and no doubt put to more hardship to seal the deal. To think of it, even the World Bank have been made to wear a dunce's cap: they severed their relation with Satyam only recently; I wonder what the bigger story behind that is.

On a different note, profitability alone... should not be the goal.