A cynical question about the Tava/RW Beck story

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Just to play the hardboiled cynic, what are the chances that Cameron Daley was hoping to spook some utilities into buying his company's services? I'm not making an accusation, just facing the reality that with Y2K, everybody seems to have a potential hidden agenda. And hoping for a reason not to worry so much about what Daley said. ;)

-- Anonymous, July 07, 1999

Answers

Thinman,

I could write an essay on that question (which I won't :) Basically, I do think it's a fair question that should be asked of any consultant in the private sector; simply asking it doesn't impugn motives.

Second, though, remember that if a doctor diagnoses a serious disease doesn't mean he's doing it because he'll make money from the operation- he's just saying it because the disease is actually there. Ditto with auditors (or at least, that should be the case).

My general observation in Y2K is that auditors usually have the most accurate picture (since it is, after all, their job). Them, and the people actually on the front lines doing the work. And some others...

As Bruce Webster (I think) has observed, Y2K was not dreamed up by consultants (or, I would add, auditors); in fact, many companies will no doubt wish they had paid *more* attention to their consultants, auditors, possibly regulators, whoever.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 1999


It's not necessarily a cynical question. Unfortunately, it is too seldom asked.

You see, the financial motivation works every which way but loose. Assuming that Daley's assertions (accusations?) are true about utilities -- that they aren't digging deep enough and, so, are missing real problems -- I'll bet you a buck that at least part of their motivation for not digging deep enough was that doing so would push costs upward.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 1999


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