When accounting goes unaccounted for
From the mailbag:
I have been working as a Accounts Payable for 3 years. I don’t want to waste your time of explaining my disadvantages. One of my advantages is money. I have a large savings. I would like to give $30,000 to anyone who get me a job in Big 4. I am not talking about [a] bribe. I wish to know how to use advantages [sic].
Just don’t sit there, give the man some suggestions. All options are on the table. Bonus points for creativity.
Wait, what is this? Deloitte Italy and Fondazione Deloitte [Deloitte Foundation] are handing out tens […]
Walt was elected chairman of Peat Marwick at 39 and served in that role until he retired in 1980.
We weren’t aware of this but the firm actually has a “Walter E. Hanson Award” that recognizes “a KPMG partner for delivering exemplary client service, providing visionary leadership and displaying the highest standards of integrity.”
So while Walt’s name isn’t in the lobby (and thus, no Warhol treatment) this award sounds pretty good. The firm’s press release is after the jump.
WALTER E. HANSON, FORMER KPMG CHAIRMAN, DIES AT 84
First Chairman of Peat Marwick InternationalNEW YORK, Oct. 28 – Walter Edward Hanson, former Chairman of KPMG, died after a long illness at his home in Newport Beach, Calif., his family has disclosed. He was 84.
During a career at KPMG that spanned more than 23 years, Mr. Hanson, who died Sept. 24, was widely regarded and admired for his business insight and determination by both his colleagues and clients. He became the first Chairman of Peat Marwick International in 1978.
Mr. Hanson joined KPMG in 1957 as a partner in charge of its transportation practice, later as partner in charge of the New York office, and was elected Chairman of the U.S. firm at the age of 39, serving in that role from 1965 until his retirement in 1980.
He was born on Oct. 17, 1925, in Adelphia, N.J. After serving with the U.S. Naval Air Corps, he graduated from Lafayette College in 1949. He became a certified public accountant and joined the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway Co., where he rose to the position of Vice President and Comptroller.
Numerous academic and civic honors were conferred upon Mr. Hanson. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Lafayette College for 18 years, nine of those as Chairman. In 1984, the firm established the Walter E. Hanson/KPMG Peat Marwick Professorship of Business and Finance endowed chair at Lafayette. In June 1977, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lafayette. In 1979, the Citizens Union of New York City presented him their Distinguished Service Award.
Mr. Hanson served for 15 years as a member of the Board of Governors of the United Nations Association of the USA. He was a member of the Advisory Council of both the Harvard Business School and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He also served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Graduate School of Management-UCLA and Duke University Business School.
Following his retirement in 1980 from KPMG, he served as a member of the Boards of Directors of many companies, including CIGNA Corp, Fidelity Investments, Chesebrough-Ponds, and Insurance Company of North America. Mr. Hanson was founding Chairman of the Maritime Center in Norwalk, Conn. In 1983, Mr. Hanson was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the profession’s highest honor.
Commemorating Walter Hanson’s contributions, KPMG created the Walter E. Hanson Award in 2003 to recognize and honor a KPMG partner for delivering exemplary client service, providing visionary leadership and displaying the highest standards of integrity.
Mr. Hanson was one of America’s top sailboat racers. He raced for many years on Long Island Sound and along the East Coast. He twice won the Marblehead-Halifax Race and was the Northern Ocean Racing Circuit winner. In addition, he was a member of the New York Yacht Club and served for many years on its Board of Trustees.
Mr. Hanson is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, children Katharine (Greg Hurray), Elizabeth (Edward) Lawlor, and Barbara (Samuel) Maropis; grandchildren Jeffrey Hurray and Matthew, Abigail, and Casey Lawlor; a sister, Emma Freeman and brother, Irwin.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association and/or Lafayette College.
About KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International.”) KPMG International’s member firms have 140,000 professionals, including more than 7,900 partners, in 146 countries.
Riddle me this, oh wise Going Concern readers – Forbes’s list du jour is America’s Largest Private Companies and its Top 10 has two familiar names: PwC and Ernst & Young but Deloitte and KPMG are nowhere to be found.
Here’s a rundown of companies, their revenues in billions and # of employees:
1. Cargill – $109.84, 130k
2. Koch – 100.00, 70k
3. Bechtel – $30.8, 49k
4. HCA – 30.05, 190k
5. Mars – 28, 65k
6. Chrysler – 27.90, 41.2k
7. PwC – 26.57, 161k
8. Publix – 24.32, 142k
9. E&Y – 21.26, 141k
10. C&S – 20.4, 16.6k
Just for the sake of not opening a bigger canner of worms we’ll ignore the enormous drop in revenues from #2 to #3.
Both firms have over $20 billion in revenues – Deloitte’s the biggest of the Big 4 for crissakes – so that puts them in the top ten easily, yet they’re completely MIA.
If you look at the methodology, you’ll find that both firms should easily qualify to make the list:
In addition to our $2 billion revenue requirement, the companies on our list have either too few shareholders to be required to file financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or have shares whose ownership is restricted to some group, such as employees or family members. We exclude foreign companies, companies that don’t pay income tax (like Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority), mutually owned companies (like State Farm Insurance), cooperatives ( like Central Grocers), companies with fewer than 100 employees, and companies that are more than 50% owned by another public, private or foreign company. We also leave out companies whose primary business is auto dealerships or real estate investment and/or management.
If you take a hard line here, “companies that don’t pay income tax” should probably disqualify all the firms but obviously Forbes made at least two exceptions. As for the rest of requirements, nothing really jumps out so it’s anyone’s guess.
Perhaps Deloitte and KPMG just got their applications in late? Maybe they were “meh” on the whole list? Maybe they don’t support the flat tax so Teve Torbes just said “To hell with them.” ? The editors for the piece don’t have emails included in their bios but we’re pretty curious as to how this whole thing came together, so please get in touch.
Theories (DWB is going with “because they both suck”) on the alleged oversight/snub are welcome.