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Accounting News Roundup: Deloitte CEO Email Still Demotivating; PwC Sponsors Some Content; Auditors Who’ve Gone to Pot | 01.25.16

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Punit Renjen: Discovering the thinking behind Deloitte chief's demotivating new year email [Independent]
If you haven't had enough Punit Renjen takedowns over his vapid email from last week, then here's another:

Writing such mumbo jumbo can surely be barely any more enjoyable than reading it. And if it is meant to motivate staff to work harder – staff who, it is safe to assume, are not afforded the time to compose such absurdly empty platitudes – it can only possibly have the opposite effect. At the end of his note, he promises to “achieve a bit more work-life balance.” If something’s got to give, make it the emails.

I'm not sure what it was about this particular email that got people so worked up. Empty, cliched emails from corporate executives aren't exactly in short supply. Which is probably why Deloitte's own Millennial survey found that the amount of time spent reading and sending emails is greater than they'd like.

In other Deloitte news, the firm bought a Fintech agency and is trying to help Flint, Michigan with its water problem

PwC Chairman: We Want Our Employees To Take Vacations And Disconnect [HP]
We've heard things like this from Bob Moritz before:

"I take time off quite often," Moritz told HuffPost at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, "and I have to role model that. … So if we’re talking about flexibility, I’d better be flexible myself."

He said PwC takes a company-wide break over the holidays, and called it "one of the better [programs] we've done."

"We shut the place down between Christmas and New Years," he said. "We give everybody extra time off. Email traffic goes down to zero, and we say, 'Disconnect, recharge your batteries, go see your friends and family, enjoy yourself and come back refreshed.'"

What we haven't seen before is an entire section of the Huffington Post called "What's Working: Purpose + Profits" that the firm has sponsored. The short interview with BoMo doesn't seem to be sponsored content, however, a post from the firm's Chief Purpose Officer Shannon Schuyler definitely is and there's a full disclaimer on the page:

This page contains materials from The Huffington Post and/or other third party writers. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC") has not selected or reviewed such third party content and it does not necessarily reflect the views of PwC. PwC does not endorse and is not affiliated with any such third party. The materials are provided for general information purposes only, should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors, and PwC shall have no liability or responsibility in connection therewith.

It's amusing that even when trying to navigate the tricky waters of content marketing, an accounting firm manages to be most concerned with legal liability.

Pot auditors
The Auditor Carousel noted that two Colorado cannabis companies — Americann, Inc. and Massroots, Inc. — disclosed a change in their audit firms, to MaloneBailey and Liggett, Vogt & Webb, P.A., respectively. AC "service multiple clients in the cannabis industry" so obviously some firms see a future in these types of companies.

In other news:

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Obama Backs Latest Bargain [WSJ]
President Barack Obama, in a last-ditch bid for a bipartisan “grand bargain” on the budget, threw his weight Tuesday behind a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan unveiled by six Republican and Democratic senators. The plan, which would span a decade, has scant chance of passing intact as the solution to the current debate over raising the government’s borrowing limit. Some Republicans were wary of the plan’s changes in tax rules. Democrats said it would be near impossible to draft legislative language and pass it quickly.

Political Advocacy Groups Denied Tax-Exempt StatusNYT]
Copies of the letters informing the groups of the decisions were heavily redacted by the I.R.S. when it released them last week, so it was impossible to know the names of the organizations involved, or which political party they might have worked with. “You are not operated primarily to promote social welfare because your activities are primarily for the benefit of a political party and a private group of individuals, rather than the community as a whole,” the I.R.S. wrote in the letters. “Accordingly, you do not qualify for exemption.”

Minnesota lawmakers approve budget deal; governor’s signature will end 20-day state shutdown [WaPo]
Minnesota’s state government is poised to re-open for business after lawmakers worked through the night and agreed on a budget plan early Wednesday to end a nearly three-week shutdown. The last votes came around 3:30 a.m. during a special session that begun Tuesday afternoon, and Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton was expected to sign it later in the morning. His signature will formalize an agreement he reached with key Republican legislative leaders last week and likely mean that most of the idled 22,000 state workers could be back to work by Thursday.

‘Going Concern’ Concerns Fall Again: Report [CFOJ]
The report by Audit Analytics found that the number of audits that included a “going concern” warning declined in 2010 for the second year in a row. Auditors are required to include this warning when they have doubts about a company’s ability to stay in business for another 12 months. The study found that the number of going concern qualifications fell to 2,636 last year from 2,994 in 2009. The number peaked at 3,179 in 2008, with the onset of the financial crisis. Audit Analytics started studying the issue in 2000.

Ernst & Young Deaf, Dumb, And Blind About News Corp. [Forbes]
Hear none. Speak none. See none.

Paying taxes your employer keeps [Reuters]
[I]n Illinois the state income taxes withheld from your paycheck may be kept by your employer under a law that took effect in May. Continental Corporation (CONG.DE), the big German tire maker; Motorola Mobility (MMI.N), the cell phone maker; and Navistar (NAV.N), the maker of diesel trucks for industry and the military, are in on the deal. State officials say a fourth company is negotiating a similar arrangement. Chrysler and Mitsubishi arranged deals with the state in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009; Ford got one in 2007, since revised to let it keep half of its Illinois workers’ state income taxes.

Apple’s Cash Hoard Tops $76 Billion [CFOJ]
Apple’s cash stockpile is growing again, up about $10.4 billion in the last quarter to a whopping $76.2 billion at the end of June, said Peter Oppenheimer, CFO of the iPhone and iPad maker on its earnings call Tuesday. Oppenheimer said he was “thrilled to report the highest quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple’s history.” Oppenheimer was in fine fettle; in response to a question from Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair about the company’s ability to fend off competitors, Oppenheimer responded in his understated manner that, “we are certainly very, very good with the Internet, with telecommunications and delivering content. I think we have proven that for a decade.”

Murdoch foam protester charged with public order offence [Independent]
Jonathan May-Bowles, 26, of Edinburgh Gardens, Windsor, was bailed to appear before City of Westminster Magistrates Court next Friday, July 29. He is charged with behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress in a public place under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, Scotland Yard said.

Romney as Job Creator Clashes with Bain Record of Job Cuts [Bloomberg]
“You’d have a president who has spent his life in business — small business, big business — and who knows something about how jobs are created and how we compete around the world,” he said at a campaign stop last month at Buddy Brew Coffee in Tampa, Florida.
What Romney skips is his experience in eliminating jobs. It’s a facet of his career that presents a particular challenge for the Republican primary frontrunner: Tough business decisions don’t necessarily translate into good politics.