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Email Reminds KPMG Tax Group That You Best Remain Chargeable in the Summer-Fall Busy Season
- Caleb Newquist
- August 5, 2010
As summer creeps to a close, that means one thing for Big 4 tax compliance folks – Busy Season 2.0. In a lot of ways, this time of year can be worse than the late winter/early spring as the drop deadlines approach and your deadbeat clients that never get you what you need on time remind you why they are your deadbeat clients.
It also means the return of mandatory 50+ hour weeks (that’s on the low end). Typically a simple communication from one of the higher-ups in your group should suffice but sometimes a few extra instructions get included. This was the case in an email sent to the troops in KPMG’s Fed Tax Group in the Dallas office yesterday afternoon:
From:
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 2:42 PM
To:
Subject: 2010 Fall Busy Season Hours
The summer-fall busy season is now upon us. Effective immediately through September 15th, all senior associates and associates in the Fed Tax practice should have a minimum of 50 hours of chargeable work per week. If you don’t have work to fill this time, please contact Elizabeth Emerson immediately with your availability and she will work to assign your time to projects. New this year, if you have any unassigned time, the expectation is that you will send a short email to your manager and copy [redacted] on a daily basis with the number of available hours (out of 10) that you have to work on projects. As you are assigned please remember that it is imperative to keep [your timesheet] updated and accurate.
Thanks in advance for all your hard work and efforts during this busy season.
The “short email” probably won’t apply to many SAs but there are probably more than a few A1s and A2s that will find gaps in their day and a quick typing of “I’m unassigned for X hours” today will probably suffice. Annoying? Yes. Necessary? Perhaps. As everyone knows, if you’re not fully chargeable, it could mean the end of your illustrious Big 4 career (and even if you are, that might not save you) and Fed Tax compliance is known a popular group for layoffs come post-October 15th.
But our source interpreted the email this way:
I guess we will have to start asking for permission to check emails and take bathroom breaks, otherwise we will have to “send a short email on a daily basis” explaining why we were unchargeable for 30 minutes a day…
So tax people – how do you read this email? A friendly reminder with a simple request or just one more thing to lump on your pile? Discuss.
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Compensation Watch ’10: KPMG Discussing a Mid-Year Bonus (or Something)
- Caleb Newquist
- December 6, 2010
After moves by Deloitte, PwC, McGladrey and now Grant Thornton, we have now heard that KPMG is discussing a mid-year surprise.
The only thing is, there aren’t a lot of details at this point. The firm’s first quarter is not over until the end of this month, so the pool likely hasn’t been determined and it isn’t known whether the mid-year comp will be paid as a bonus or as a merit increase. Our source on the matter speculates that it will be a bonus rather than a raise but it is fairly certain that it will be structured in a way that will incentivize employees to stay with the firm. There has been steady stream of people leaving (which is not atypical this time of year) and there are hopes that this show of love will stem the tide.
So while it appears that the House of Klynveld has heard your grumbling about anteing up, time (and the amount of money) will ultimately determine if this will satisfy the troops.
If you’re familiar with the talks or you have more details, email us the details and discuss your thoughts below.
UPDATE – circa 2:10 pm: Some thoughts on a non-bonus approach:
Pure (educated) conjecture on my part, but I would assume that the mid-year “surprise” would be a raise, as the firm is apprehensive at this point about giving bonuses, because people could just take them and leave. Harkening back to our SOX-404 years (2005), we gave multiple raises, bonuses and awards throughout the busy season (i.e., if you worked 60+ hours in a week, immediate $200 award) with a bonus at the end of the tunnel. I seriously doubt any early 2011 compensation would be front-loaded.
And then, in case you weren’t already aware, there’s this:
In other news, [the Dallas] office has been reaching out and giving offers to people they have previously laid off and are seeking out experienced hires. Not sure if it’s firm-wide, but an interesting sign of desperation nonetheless.
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Is It Possible That KPMG Isn’t Phil Mickelson’s Favorite Sponsor?
- Caleb Newquist
- May 14, 2010
[caption id="attachment_10491" align="alignright" width="260" caption="Is that Five Guys?"][/caption]
We realize that the above statement will likely result in an army of KPMG lawyers threatening this here site with libel and possibly putting every single person associated with GC in mortal danger but the question needed to be asked.
At the Players Championship, the freshly jacketed Phil said the following, “I grew up on In-N-Out. I thought that was the best burger until I had Five Guys. That is hands down the best burger I’ve ever had.”
At first this may seem like an over-eager chubby man enjoying a newfound joy in life. The guy is happily married, so he’s not going to make like Tiger and bang all the Laker Girls or anything. Anyhoo, it turns out that Phil failed to mention that he hearts Five Guys so much (apparently he went there SIX DAYS IN A ROW last week) that he dropped some coin into the franchise.
Fellow duffer Stewart Cink caught wind of Mick’s little endorsement of FG and took it upon himself to let the cat out of the bag:
We don’t watch a lot of golf but we do know that Phil pulls some decent scratch putting those four squares on his head. And we’ve never heard him say a single word about the kick ass professional services put forth by all you Klynveldians out there.
Of course this doesn’t really mean anything, Phil could have a special place in his heart saved just for KPMG but he’s just not able to verbalize it. That’s probably what it is.
Phil Disclosure: Mickelson Owns Five Guys Rights [CNBC]