Accountants: a threat to democracy

Can only wish I'd thought of that, but it's the Guardian's headline, not mine. I have never understood why someone poor who steals is likely to go to prison, but someone in a suit and tie pays a fine, admits no guilt, and continues on their merry way. Call me, naive. But isn't it time we got out the pitchforks and scythes and saw these thieves off?

With the aid of accountancy firms, numerous corporate transactions are manufactured for the purpose of avoiding taxes. KPMG has admitted selling "unlawful" tax avoidance schemes that effectively deprived US public funds of billions of dollars. The firm has been fined nearly $500m as a result. Several of its ex-partners face the prospect of criminal prosecutions. Other big US accountancy firms, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte also face financial penalties and threats of prosecution.
The same firms also peddle a range of avoidance schemes in the UK, which are estimated to cost the state £100bn each year in possible tax revenues.

Prem Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Essex, writes about the dangers companies such as KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte pose to the well-being and welfare of ordinary citizens. Guardian, click here.