Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Accounting News Roundup: ‘An accident waiting to happen’ and Snap’s Accounting Fees | 03.14.17

pwc-mf-global-trial-corzine

PwC on trial

Even if PwC thinks a mistrial wouldn’t be totally inappropriate, things roll on for now. The Financial Times reported on PwC’s cross-examination of former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine that continued yesterday:

During cross-examination of the former chief executive on Monday, Mr Cusick noted that an eleventh-hour rescue deal by Interactive Brokers, a rival brokerage, was abandoned after MF Global found shortfalls of cash in its customers’ accounts. “The sale died at that point when the accounts could not be reconciled?” he asked.“It did not go through,” said Mr Corzine.

In general, you get the sense MFG was a bit of a shitshow. A nameless former employee told the FT: “MF was an accident waiting to happen. No systems, no risk control frameworks, no IT; zilch, really.”

The trial continues.

Snap’s accounting fees

Audit Analytics notes that the accounting fees Snap, Inc. paid related to its IPO are much, much higher than its legal and what its peers paid.

Snap-accounting-fees-ipo

 

Audit Analytics theorizes that this could be related to the company’s switch from PwC to EY in early 2016 or a material weakness spotted in 2014 and resolved in 2015. Or, “[I]t’s possible that Snap just got a bad deal.”

Has Donald Trump released his tax returns?

Nope! But a Nashville, Tennessee council member has introduced a bill “that would prohibit access to Metro-operated facilities to presidents and presidential candidates who haven’t released their income tax returns.” The bill won’t be passed prior to the president’s visit to Nashville, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts.

Previously, on Going Concern…

I wondered aloud if PwC was on the ropes in the MF Global trial. In Open Items, someone asked about benefits offered by industry employers.

In other news:

Get the Accounting News Roundup in your inbox every weekday by signing up here.