This is laughable. Offer them bonuses to do their job, which they can't seem to do in the first place? This is pretty amusing. Who do you work for CFTC or NFA? I've heard it all now.
How about they will not have a job if they do not perform their basic function. How's that for an incentive?
Dude, you are making valid points but you are assuming too much (unless you know things for sure). In this case, you are assuming that U.S. Bank will give out that information over the phone. The NFA might only be empowered to obtain that information via mail. If I call U.S. Bank and say "I'm with the NFA, can you tell me how much is in the account for PFG?" are they automatically going to give me that info? Yes, they might, if I have some kind of corroborating access code or account number or something, but they also might say, "You have to request that information in writing or in person". If the compliance documents specify only one method of information exchange, no other method is going to get you the info. One thing I've learned on a couple of process design projects I've done is that you should never assume that the process works the way you think it should work or the way you would design it to work.
I find it hard to picture accountants or auditors taking on the power elite and doing what is right - full steam ahead and damn the torpedos! At least that is my prejudice of the industry from my experience. Remember what happens to many whistle blowers. One would think they would be worshiped as heroes. If they pulled people from a burning car at great risk to themselves, people admire them. If they expose the financial truth, they can be hung out to dry and twist slowly in the wind. Their future career options are often limited. People tsk tsk and then go on to the next newspaper page. I remember early on in my career being told not to ask such pointed questions. They said go along to get along. I think most people are like that in jobs these days.
Lincoln and brocklanders, you are missing my point. People expect the regulators to protect their money and forsee fraud before it happens. Yet with regulators and public accounting firms as well (pwc, ey, etc,) all of the real work is being done by people with 5 or less years of experience. The fact is these people know very little. It doesn't matter If it is an immaterial fcm (which PFG was) or a fortune 500 company. The majority of auditors end goal is to move to the other side of the business. This is a fact. Why is this? Because all businesses outside of audit pay a premium for former auditors, whether that is tax, corporate, regulatory etc. However, if incentives existed to truly serve as a fiduciary to the public, you would see more people looking for longer careers in these places, driving demand for the jobs and therefore quality of talent.
I understand what you are saying and the pay should be competitive and I'm sure they are making a decent salary and good benefits currently even without factoring in any performance bonuses. My point echoes what LincolnArmy said... that there are plenty of qualified auditors and accountants who are currently out of work that would certainly do a better job than the clowns who are on the job now. If the folks at NFA and CFTC can't (or won't) seem to find the opportunity to pick up a phone and do some basic due diligence on their audit subjects or they are so corrupted by the process, giving them bonuses won't solve the problem. The entire system is suspect in my opinion.
Sorry, but this is crap. Please prove the NFA/CFTC can't verify over the phone a regulated firms account balances at their listed bank.
Grand lux- that is idiotic. Life sentences? I guess I will call on that the next time one of my ctas loses money in a up market u moron. People are acting as if the nfa was complacent I this which is absurd. Why the blame is even on them and not the cftc, who has never actually performed an audit in their existence, except when a problem was aReady raised by either the cme, nfa, cbot, ice, ect is beyond me. Pfg has had a history of problems, why would you pit money with a firm who has been sanctioned by the nfa multiple times and just been sued by a state in connection with a ponzi scheme??????