Francine McKenna

Chicago, Seoul

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Writer at The Dig Newsletter

Articles

More on competitive strategy, collusion, and coercion in the Big 4 global audit firms

3 days ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

“I've been homesick for countries I've never been, and longed to be where I couldn't be.”John CheeverI am almost ready to fly again, to see my colleagues at Cambridge. But first I wanted to get some thoughts down on paper to keep you until I return. I will likely be out of range for the rest of the week. What follows is all behind the paywall for my loyal and supportive paid subscribers. The Dig is a reader-supported publication.
Andrew Christopher Baker asks: What's your political philosophy?

4 days ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

Chicago’s Andrew Christopher Baker is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Over the years we have worked together with various professional services clients, including KPMG. Baker is a communications consultant in Chicago who earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Communications at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Early in his career, he worked in academia, then in marketing and communications for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young.
Proprietary PCAOB research, audit quality and ping-ponging deficiency rates

6 days ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster...
My First Accounting Job: Jim Peterson

1 week ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

What is your current job? I am an American lawyer whose practice focuses on financial and accountancy related issues. The Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Antitrust, tariffs, and the "dash for cash"

2 weeks ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

On April 10-11, I plan to attend the "2025 Antitrust and Competition Conference - Economic Concentration and the Marketplace of Ideas."I was fortunate to attend the first conference in 2017, while a JIR fellow, and then the five-year anniversary conference in 2022. I wrote about what changed in between the two and what happened to antitrust enforcement during those years in two stories for the Chicago Booth Review. The Dig is a reader-supported publication.
Crosspost: Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) cuts executive pay amid accounting investigations

2 weeks ago | thedig.substack.com | Olga Usvyatsky |Francine McKenna

This is a cross-post from Deep Quarry, the newsletter I occasionally collaborate on with Olga Usvyatsky. If you value our work, please subscribe!The Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. It was no April Fool’s joke. Macy’s said on Tuesday in its that it would claw back more than $600,000 in cash bonuses from executives after a November 2024 accounting scandal led to some executives being overpaid.
My first accounting job: Natalie Berfield

3 weeks ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

What is your current job? I am a tenure-track assistant professor in Accounting at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. The Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Did you major in accounting or come to it later? To CPA exam or not to CPA exam?
Unpacking Tesla’s CAPEX accounting: Reflecting on FT's "mea culpa"

3 weeks ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

This is a collaborative effort, co-authored with Deep Quarry, the newsletter from Olga Usvyatsky. If you value our work, please subscribe!The Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. On March 25, 2025, the FT published a “mea culpa” piece by Dan McCrum, retracting the original FT article that discussed Tesla’s gap between cash CAPEX-related spending and changes in PPE on the balance sheet.
CohnReznick, Apax and some litigation in the way

3 weeks ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

Today I want to talk to you about the impact of private equity's incursions in the public accounting industry, using one particular investment in a firm that's a member of the $1 billion revenue club: CohnReznick. What has not been previously reported is that while a deal with Apax is being considered and negotiated, CohnReznick is getting ready to go to trial on a "break the firm" auditor liability claim.
Answering some questions about Tesla’s CAPEX

1 month ago | thedig.substack.com | Francine McKenna

This is collaborative effort, co-authored with Deep Quarry, the newsletter from Olga Usvyatsky. If you value our work, please subscribe!The Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Today we are going to talk about some recent discussion regarding Tesla’s CAPEX spending.