Author: Caleb Newquist

Founding editor, Going Concern.

Job of the Day: We won’t rest…

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for hire me2.jpg…until you’re all gainfully employed. Except maybe the last week of the year. Nobody does a damn thing that week.
Check out the details for a financial analyst position at BBVA in New York, after the jump.


Company: BBVA
Title: Financial Analyst
Location: New York City
Responsibilities: Analyze daily/monthly fluctuations in P&L (by entity, business lines, and product), prepare explanations of significant changes, and investigate any open items; Prepare monthly management reporting package, including reporting of adjustments, suspense items and reconciling items; Identify any errors (system or manual) in the daily P&L and work closely with the Operations department and Front Office to ensure they are corrected in a timely manner; Assist in preparation of budget and expense allocation; Review monthly report of suspense items and obtain explanation and target dates for clearance of aged items;Prepare various analyses by products (Loans, Fees, Fixed Income, FX, IRS, etc.); Assist in preparing support for various audit requests; Other ad-hoc projects, as needed
Qualifications: Bachelors or Masters in Accounting or Finance, CPA preferred; Three to Five years of experience in the Financial industry (Banking preferred), with an emphasis in management reporting or accounting; Possess knowledge of U.S. GAAP and/or IFRS, standard accounting concepts practices and procedures and ability to understand and solve complex accounting issues; Fluency in Spanish preferred
See the entire job description over at the CG Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Pictures of the Day: A Compelling Argument for a Computerized Exam

London’s ExCeL Centre was packed to the rafters today with almost 4,000 would-be accountants sitting their ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exams in Corporate Reporting, Financial Reporting and Preparing Taxation Computations. The exams are part of ACCA’s global exam series, with an estimated 73,806 students taking these exams around the world today.
Big_Exam08 (2).jpg


Big _Exam.jpg
Why are the proctors dressed like riot police?

Will a Boycott of Overstock.com Thwart Patrick Byrne’s Auditor Hunt?

Thumbnail image for patsy_byrne.jpgGuys and gals, we here at GC are concerned about something. Something other than who the next face of Accenture will be (honestly we’re excited about Chuck’s commanding lead).
No, we’re concerned that your humble servant and Farmville enthusiast Patrick Byrne is going to be unable to find an auditor for Overstock.com. The company has until January 18th to pull something together so the NASDAQ doesn’t delist them and if things continue the way they are, it’s going to be hello Pink Sheets.
Maybe things wouldn’t look so grim if PB hadn’t blown off CNN. Or if he hadn’t pissed off every single financial journalist and blogger by getting too friendy.
But now that Barry Ritholtz has called for a boycott, any hope for finding the next auditor to put the stamp of approval on OSTK’s financial statements is fading.
Wait! Gary Weiss has his doubts: “As for that boycott: great idea, except that with Byrne manipulating the financials, how would you know if it is having any impact?”
Whew! There’s still a glimmer.
Boycott Overstock.com [The Big Picture]

KPMG Has to Be Pretty Happy with the Golfer They Chose to Sponsor

Phil-Mickelson_Tim Flynn.jpgAs we mentioned yesterday, Accenture is on the hunt for a new poster boy. While we speculated that poaching Phil from the House of Klynveld as a possibility for Accenture it’s more likely that the spotlight will be falling on Mickelson and his KPMG cap (black or white, depending on the mood).
Although Phil won’t be dancing on Tiger’s grave, Tim Flynn may have been quietly making the rounds at 345 Park high fiving anyone and everyone at work on the Monday after Tiger’s crash.
If you’ve got any thoughts on how TF celebrated (sweater vests for everyone!) discuss in the comments.

Preliminary Analytics | 12.15.09

BuffettCarriesLunch.standard.jpg• Obama and Buffett May Be Distant Cousins – So there’s that. [NYT]
• Continuing The Conversation: If Auditors Weren’t There, Why Not? – “If no one but me asks, since no one cares, then what are we doing here?” [Re: The Auditors]
• Christmas Gift Ideas for Accountants & Auditors – A “genuine and truly useful list” that will help you avoid the ‘Accountants do it with Double Entry’ t-shirt. [The Accounting Nation]
• Wells Fargo’s TARP Plan Brings End to Bailout Era – Oh, so it’s an “era” now? [DealBook]
• Four Cups of Coffee or Tea Daily Lowers Diabetes Risk – Just keep the breath freshener handy. Thanks. [Bloomberg]
• Christmas Gifts for that Special Tax Person – For the accountant who also enjoys the occasional WWE event. [TaxProf Blog]

Review Comments | 12.14.09

olinto_cpa.jpg• Your Nominations for ‘Accountants of the Decade’ Are Now Being Accepted – Still accepting noms for the prestigious title to bestowed upon the top bean counter of the last ten years. Peter Olinto and TF are the current faves. [GC]
• Why Citi investors should never sleep – Um, because it was Vik’s idea to pay back TARP? [CFOZone]
• Christmas Gifts for that Special Tax Person – How about a 1040 from 1913? [TaxProf Blog]
• 2009 Year-end Money Moves: Taxes – Bone up, seventeen days and counting. [Don’t Mess With Taxes]

Robert Half Survey: CFOs Are Nearly Done Firing People

unemployment.jpgBob Half is spreading some good cheer the-world-is-not-ending-in-2010 news this holiday season, as the staffing company’s latest poll has indicated that the job market for accountants should “stabalize” in the first quarter of the new year. Call us morbid but “stable” makes us think of someone in the ICU.


Web CPA:

Staffing company Robert Half International found that a net 3 percent of the 1,400 CFOs interviewed for the survey plan to reduce their accounting and finance personnel in the first quarter of 2010, but this represents an improvement from the net 6 percent forecast the previous quarter. Most executives — 84 percent — expect no changes to their staffing levels.
Six percent of executives plan to increase hiring in the first quarter and 9 percent foresee personnel reductions. Compared to the fourth-quarter projections, the number that anticipated adding staff rose while the number projecting cutbacks declined.

Thought so! Not anything to write home about since 84 percent of the respondents expect no changes in their staffing levels. To make matters worse, according to the survey those of you pounding the pavement don’t have any skills:

Despite current unemployment levels, CFOs continue to report challenges finding highly skilled professionals for certain functional areas. Twenty-five percent of financial executives said accounting roles are the hardest to fill, and 20 percent said they experience the most difficulty hiring for operational support positions.

Leave it to the BSDs of the world to bring you down by telling you don’t have any skills. We believe in you, unemployed number crunchers of the world! Don’t let the bastards get you down.
Accounting Staff Cutbacks Expected to Slow [Web CPA]

Is Patrick Byrne’s Facebook Friends List Motivated by a Farmville Obsession?

Thumbnail image for farmvillePat.jpgWe haven’t really touched on the Patrick Byrne’s ill-fated attempt to stalk his critics (and all their friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers) mostly because we weren’t on the list and those that were (including Gary Weiss, Sam Antar, Joe Wiesenthal, and Barry Ritholtz) are doing a fine job of pointing out how desperate, shady, and just plain fucking bad this makes Patsy, his head minion at DeepCapture Judd Bagley, and Overstock look.
We only bring it up now because we’d like to point out that it’s worth speculating on the other side of this story. Our contention is that P. Byrne, being of questionable mind and maturity, is OBSESSED with Farmville and it is his personal mission to destroy the Farmvilles of his critics and their FB friends (now who’s movin’ up in Farmville, bitches?).
This agonizing torture method will eventually wear down the haters to the point to where no one will be able to take the man, his doomed-to-fail quest to locate an auditor, and his company seriously and will thus give up their quest of destroying him.
The only other thing we can come up with is that he has an intense hatred of trite status updates and was going to expose everyone for their lack of substantive commentary but we find all his critics to be interesting bloggers, so we tossed that theory.
Grant Thornton and PwC have got to feel pret-tay good about how this all turned out. If you’ve got you own theories or thoughts on this situation, feel free to discuss them here.

Who Will Replace Tiger Woods at Accenture?

tiger_phil.jpgThe possibilities are endless:
• Will they poach Phil* from KPMG?
• What about Natalie from RSM?
• Do they go in a different direction altogether and pick up Chuck Liddell?
• Becks?
T. Dubs’ tendency to screw anything with a pulse looks like it will benefit someone handsomely. Accenture can’t afford to go too long without a shill.
Let’s help them out. Vote below and discuss. Oh, and if the mood strikes you, throw a caption on this pic. You’ve go to wonder which trollop TW’s got on the brain wearing a grin like that.


*Over Tim Flynn’s dead body

Layoff Watch ’09: Grant Thornton December Edition

We come with news this afternoon about more layoffs at G to the T that are rumored to have gone down earlier this month.
This latest information we have involves two managers and two senior managers in the Los Angeles office were shown the door around the first of the month. Our source has indicated that the breakdown was three in the audit practice and one in tax. These latest cuts would be in addition to the original ten that we reported on last month for LA.
If you have more information on these layoffs or have details on a different GT office, get in touch with us or discuss in the comments.
Earlier: Layoff Watch ’09: Grant Thornton

Job of the Day: If Nothing Else, the Title Sounds Impressive

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for hire me2.jpgSure you’ll be neck deep in the new codification but somebody’s got to do it, amiright?
Check out an Investment Accounting Policy Manager position at BlackRock, after the jump.


Company: BlackRock
Title: Investment Accounting Policy Manager
Location: New York City
Description: Direct accounting policy related to BlackRock’s nearly 2,000 investment products, including mutual funds, i-Shares, private equity funds, CDOs, structured products and other alternative products, including real estate funds, hedge funds and hedge fund of funds.
Responsibilities: Document existing policies for investment companies, working closely with fund administration teams and product CFOs; Assist in structuring new products; Monitor the firm’s compliance with SFAS 167; Assist in general corporate policy matters, including SFAS 123(R), SFAS 109, SFAS 141(R), SFAS 142 and SFAS 160, SFAS 157 and SFAS 52.
Qualifications: B.A. / B.S. degree in Accounting or Finance; CPA required; 7 to 12 years related work experience (Big 4 experience in a policy or technical accounting role preferred; Asset Management specialization necessary); Knowledge of new and proposed professional accounting guidance; IFRS expertise preferred, but not required.
See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

An Open Thread on Accountants’ Salaries at the Big 4: What Do You Make?

money.jpgWe received a request over the weekend to discuss everyone’s favorite topic: money.

This is a great idea on many levels since A) it’s been quite some time since we’ve dedicated a post to the subject B) there are plenty of newbies that have started since then but mostly C) knowing what everyone else is making is your God-given right.

Hopefully, this new thread will get everyone up to speed (or just completely pissed off on a Monday) and ready to run through brick walls in 2010.
In the comments, provide the following:
• Salary without bonus, bonus amount
• Level
• Practice (audit/tax/advisory), practice subgroup
• Firm, city/region
• Other notes/complaints
The reader requesting the thread, was kind enough to provide their details:
• $52k, $3k (in start year, bonus was a whopping $0 this year)
• Associate 2
• Audit
• PwC, Northern California

This is an equal opportunity post so regardless of your firm, get your numbers out there (this means you: GT, BDO, RSM/M&P, Crowe, Moss Adams, anyone else).

UPDATE, Tuesday: Thanks for all the input so far. Feel free to email us if you want to give us more details on your salary or ideas or other related thread discussions.

Other money related discussions:
Problem of the Day: Do You Quit Your High-Paying Job with the Idiot Boss?
Satisfied with Your Salary?
Problem of the Day: Your Staff Makes the Same Money As You (Maybe More)