The Dig Newsletter

Are you looking for exclusive insights and original research on some of the most popular and heavily shorted companies globally? Look no further than The Dig, a new online newsletter created by independent investigative journalist Francine McKenna.

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Articles

KPMG and Silicon Valley Bank: Federal judge says case will go on for KPMG, who faces a trial if there's no settlement

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

Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. Dr. Martin Luther King, December 18, 1963, Western Michigan University. We still don't know the ultimate fate of the PCAOB.
Waving flags: CrowdStrike and Chime

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

There are two stories I want to focus on today, Flag Day!First up is a CrowdStrike/Carahsoft update and then after the paywall, five things to watch after the Chime IPO. CrowdStrike/CarahsoftOn June 12, John Gavin published an update on CrowdStrike Holdings at his site Disclosure Insights.
Crosspost: Despite the name, companies use accounting tactics that assign a lot of certainty to UTPs

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

This is a cross-post with 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.
Summer book edition, part 2

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

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom:If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds William ShakespeareThe Dig is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Here’s Part 2 of my summer book talk. For those of you hungry for more accounting, stay tuned.
A PCAOB update and something about deceiving auditors

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

Oh what a tangled web we weaveWhen first we practice to deceive. Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808)What's been happening with PCAOB? I thought the PCAOB board members would have almost all been fired by now. Grab bag: Stories about the PCAOB, BDO and AmTrust, Microsoft-Activision, Theranos Dos, Ripple, BRK, and SkechersHowever, SEC Chair Paul Atkins may be gathering his strength, especially as it looks like there is trouble in “Big Beautiful Bill” paradise? Maybe a Friday Night Dump?
Summer book edition, Part 1: Some books to read to open your mind

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

I have a hard time resisting the urge to recommend books to others. In some cases I have multiple copies so I can lend one out without missing the presence of the book on my shelves. I pulled some books off my shelves to kick off the summer, today June 1. I know officially summer does not start until the 21st, but this morning it just felt like summer when Bubbles and I went out for our coffee. The Dig is a reader-supported publication.
Hype Man: Marc Metrick's Saks is a cluttered closet full of discounts

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

Bill Cohan is friends with everyone. His long career as a journalist, author, and banker has earned him those benefits. I am happy to have made his acquaintance back in the financial crisis era. He was kind enough to speak to my Wharton students back in 2022 about his career as his GE book, Power Failure, was coming out.
All KPMG: Failed banks, Foot Locker, and Skechers

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

Nothing's right, I'm torn. I'm all out of faith. This is how I feel… Torn, Natalie ImbrugliaToday is an all KPMG day. Originally I was going to write exclusively about Skechers, exclusively for paid subscribers. Grab bag: Stories about the PCAOB, BDO and AmTrust, Microsoft-Activision, Theranos Dos, Ripple, BRK, and SkechersTwo more stories that are KPMG adjacent popped up in the meantime, so I decided to throw it all together.
Grab bag: Stories about the PCAOB, BDO and AmTrust, Microsoft-Activision, Theranos Dos, Ripple, BRK, and Skechers

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

Then you know as well as I, how good it is to travel. Like a free spirit. Unfettered by position or possession. Orlando. Virginia WoolfThe future of the PCAOBLots of discussion around the inclusion by the House Financial Services Committee of a provision in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill to fold the PCAOB into the SEC. The provision would essentially, effectively, by design and default, abolish the PCAOB by reassigning its functions to the now stripped-down SEC.
Warren Buffet says he's stepping down, but I wouldn't count him out of the limelight yet

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

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting was held last Saturday, May 3 in Omaha. It was the first without Charlie Munger. In the rear view mirror: Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, and Berkshire HathawayIt was also full of surprises. But, before we get to that, and what comes next, I want to go back to Warren Buffett's most recent annual letter, for 2024, published February 22, 2025. Warren Buffett's begins with an apology.