Francine McKenna is an American investigative journalist, educator, blogger, and commentator focused on the accounting industry, specifically the
Big Four global accounting firms. She has documented these firms' failures to identify problems in the accounting of international financial corporations. A registered
Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...
in Illinois, McKenna is a full-tim
lecturer in financial accountingat the
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
and writes and issues the
Substack
Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...
newsletter
The Dig', where she scrutinizes accounting, audit and
corporate governance
Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions th ...
issues at public and pre-IPO companies. McKenna's work has been featured in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'',
Time',
American Banker', ''
Accountancy Age
''Accountancy Age'' is an online trade publication for accountants and financial staff in the United Kingdom. After running from 1969 to 2011 with a circulation of over 60,000 in print, it changed with effect from May 2011 to an online-only publ ...
'', ''
Barron’s'', ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', and ''Accountancy'' magazine (UK). Prior to joining the Wharton School, McKenna was the Financial Transparency reporter for
Dow Jones/
MarketWatch
MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and ''Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp.
Histor ...
.
Prior to her appointment at Wharton, McKenna taught International Business in the MBA program at
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
’s Kogod School of Business in Washington DC, taught graduate courses in
Accounting Ethics
Accounting ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics and is part of business ethics and human ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to accountancy. It is an example of professional ethics. Accounting was introduced by ...
at
the Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publi ...
Fisher College of Business
The Max M. Fisher College of Business is the business school of The Ohio State University, a public research university in Columbus, Ohio. Fisher's campus is located on the northern part of the university within a partially enclosed business ...
, and taught a course in reporting on corporate fraud at
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...
. She has twice been a finalist for the
Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Financial Journalism
Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...
. In 2006, McKenna founded her first blog
RetheAuditors.com', which the author of a business ethics textbook considers "should be on every corporate accountant and CPAs watchlist."
Before turning to journalism and academia, McKenna spent more than 20 years in public accounting, internal audit, and consulting.
Education
McKenna earned her undergraduate degree in Management, Accounting and Economics at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
and her Master's in Liberal Arts at the University of Chicago. She holds a Certificate in Executive Education from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in leading professional services firms.
Career
McKenna began her career as an internal auditor at
Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust
The Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company was at one time the seventh-largest commercial bank in the United States as measured by deposits, with approximately $40 billion in assets. In 1984, Continental Illinois became the largest ...
in Chicago, and as an accounting manager, financial reporting manager and controller in private industry. She then moved into the professional services sector at
KPMG Consulting
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a netw ...
. She directed the project to address the
Y2K
The year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem, Y2K scare, millennium bug, Y2K bug, Y2K glitch, Y2K error, or simply Y2K refers to potential computer errors related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates in and after ...
for
JP Morgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...
in Latin America and was the Managing Director for
BearingPoint
BearingPoint (parent company: BearingPoint Europe Holdings B.V.) is an independent multinational management and technology consulting firm with 41 offices across 23 countries and around 4,300 employees. In 2021, the firm delivered 1,298 projects ...
in Latin America, responsible for the Industrial, Automotive and Transportation practice. She also worked for KPMG as a managing director in Latin America,
for
Jefferson Wells as a regional vice president
and as a director for
PWC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
.
McKenna's investigative journalism career began in 2006 with her blog ''RetheAuditors.com'', which monitored and reported on public accounting firms.
Her blog was a finalist for the
Gerald Loeb Award for Online Commentary and Blogging in 2010, the first year of that category;
as a Reuters journalist noted, McKenna was "the only full-time blogger on the list, and she’s also the only one of the nominees who is truly independent: her nomination, uniquely of the four, was not submitted on her behalf by an established print publication."
McKenna later wrote a column at Forbes.com under the heading “Accounting Watchdog”, where, in 2011, she documented
PWC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
's failure to identify problems with the bankrupt global commodities brokerage firm
MF Global
MF Global, formerly known as Man Financial, was a major global financial derivatives broker, or commodities brokerage firm that went bankrupt in 2011. MF Global provided exchange-traded derivatives, such as futures and options as well as over- ...
.
She was a columnist at American Banker, “Accountable”, from October 2011 to October 2012, where she also wrote about auditing firms' failures to thoroughly audit financial organisations.
She currently works as the transparency reporter at
MarketWatch
MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and ''Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp.
Histor ...
in addition to her blogging work with ''re: TheAuditors.com'', and also teaches at
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
.
Career timeline
* 2006–''present'': ''re: TheAuditors.com'' editor
* 2010–2015: ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' contributor
* 2011–2012: ''
American Banker
''American Banker'' is a Manhattan-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, with an online edition continuing to be updated. The first issue of ...
'' columnist
* 2015–2019: ''
MarketWatch
MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and ''Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp.
Histor ...
'' reporter
* 2017–''present'':
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
adjunct professor
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Francine
American bloggers
Living people
Writers from Chicago
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American journalists
Purdue University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)