Should you stop asking for raises?
Obviously a lot of you are still obsessed with merit increases, as our compensation posts are still, by far, the most popular content on this site year after year. But for those people who don't focus on salary as their main motivation, are they doomed to the poor house? Will they end up living like some damn hobo?
Remo Canessa, the new-ish CFO of Illumnio Inc., has a pretty refreshing attitude that came up in this interview about how he pursued his next job:
Mr. Canessa said he weighed the advantages of being a private company CFO over being with a public company.
“When you’re with a public company, you’re under the eye” of investors and regulators at all times, he said. In fact, “every decision you make” is open to public scrutiny.
One drawback of a smaller, closely-held companies, is that they often don’t provide the lush executive compensation packages of larger, publicly-traded rivals. However, Mr. Canessa said money didn’t factor much into his decision, even though he said he made “significantly more” money at Infoblox than he now makes.
“I’m not money driven,” he says. “I’ve never asked for a raise in my career.”
Imagine the possibilities in your career if you never asked for a raise. Now, life has a tendency to make this approach not feasible, but in most cases, accounting and finance jobs pay well enough, and in most cases, raises come with promotions.
If you only focused on seeking out jobs that would build on your current skills while also expanding them into new areas, your decisions wouldn't be clouded by a number that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't make too much difference. All things being equal (a big caveat, I realize) the money should take care of itself.
But in reality, not asking for more money probably won't work for most people. Lifestyle, responsibilities, crappy employers, etc. all make seeking out more money the main driver of people's career choices. But hey, if you can manage to set all that aside, forget about asking for more money and see what happens.
SEC enforcement
EFP Rotenberg and one of its partners, Nicholas Bottini both agreed to settle charges with the SEC due to a "faulty audit of the financial statements of a public company that was committing fraud." The company in question is ContinuityX Solutions Inc., whose executives have been charged with "grossly" overstating their revenue "through fraudulent sales." According to the SEC press release and order, it doesn't sound like EFP or Bottini did much auditing:
The SEC’s order finds that during the audits of ContinuityX, EFP Rotenberg and Bottini failed to perform sufficient procedures to detect the fraudulent sales in the company’s financial statements. EFP Rotenberg and Bottini also failed to obtain sufficient audit evidence over revenue recognition and accounts receivable, identify related party transactions, investigate management representations that contradicted other audit evidence, perform procedures to resolve and properly document inconsistencies, and exercise due professional care.
Along with fines and suspensions, EFP will not be able to accept public company clients until "an independent consultant certifies that the firm has corrected the causes of its audit failures."
Elsewhere in SEC-related news: Brian Croteau, the Deputy Chief Accountant is leaving the agency.
Previously, on Going Concern…
In Open Items, someone asked about moving from a regional to a Big 4 firm.
In other news:
- Yahoo’s Sale to Verizon Ends an Era for a Web Pioneer
- Hedge fund Visium loses auditor KPMG, 17 portfolio managers
- "Some sports fans will win and many will lose on DraftKings, FanDuel and other fantasy team sites, but for Tennessee, the cheer is rah-rah-REVENUE all season long."
- Michigan man faces trial for alleged 'Seinfeld' bottle scheme
- Places you shouldn't play Pokémon Go: during a government briefing on Isis
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