Author: Caleb Newquist

Founding editor, Going Concern.

Will Deloitte’s Diversity Push Work?

Thumbnail image for small salzberg.jpgAwhile back we told you about Salz’s dissatisfaction of the diversity at Deloitte, regardless of their long-standing commitment to it.
After the Web CPA piece, Dr. Phil is steppincussing Deloitte’s recruitment of students on community college campuses in last Friday’s Business Week. The article points out up front that, “Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg likes to talk about the value of diversity. But of the 4,500 partners and other top executives at his firm, 92% are white.” We did the math, that’s less than 500 non-white partners.
So this is obviously a public relations problem that the firms would rather not have, since as we’ve noted, they love, love, love to point out how diverse they are, regardless of what others are saying. The facts simply seem to be that accounting, as an industry, doesn’t seem to be that diverse:
Continued, after the jump

For Deloitte, the hope is to reach high-potential people of color at community colleges, interest them in accounting, and then shepherd them through a university to a job upon graduation. If it works, it could turn around a troubling trend. In 2004, African Americans represented 1% of all CPAs, Latinos 3%, and Asians 4%, according to a U.S. Treasury Dept. report on the profession. By 2007 the figures were unchanged, if not down slightly.

Okay, so those numbers aren’t good for anyone. They’re especially not good for the image of the firms or the profession. Deloitte’s plan is to recruit on six community college campuses to try and convince the students that accounting is a kick ass career. Obviously that’s easier said than done:

Deloitte will have to do a fair amount of myth-busting. Many students believe accountants don green eyeshades and plunk away at calculators all day. So Deloitte is sending a brigade of up to eight staffers, including at least one senior partner, to enlighten, mentor, and ultimately guide potential recruits toward an accounting career. In visits to the campus classrooms, the partners plan to share workplace perspectives and explanations of how the industry has broadened to include financial, management, technology, and human capital consulting. “I don’t think students realize the vastness of what you can do in accounting,” says Gregory Brookins, a CPA and associate professor at Santa Monica Community College. “They feel like it’s a boring bean-counting job.”

‘They feel like it’s a boring bean-counting job’? GASP. How’d they get that impression?
Not everyone is on board with this plan, specifically, E&Y, “…it recruits from four-year universities where students get credits toward the CPA exam. That’s something “a two-year program doesn’t offer,” says Ken Bouyer, Americas Director of Inclusiveness Recruiting for Ernst & Young.”
Plus, since accounting firms like to pitch their professionals’ merits when courting new clients, there is a worry that community college grads are jumping up and down to brag about their less-prestigious education regardless of the accomplishments they’ve made professionally.
So accounting firms and the accounting industry appear to have an old white boy’s club problem. Is Deloitte taking the right approach? Is E&Y’s attitude short-sighted? Discuss your thoughts in the comments.
Deloitte’s Diversity Push [BW]

Preliminary Analytics | 10.05.09

Thumbnail image for george_soros.jpg• Soros Says ‘Basically Bankrupt’ Banks Restrain U.S. – And consumers up to their eyeballs in debt doesn’t help either, according to Georgie. [Bloomberg]
• BofA to Select Emergency CEO – “Led by Bank of America Chairman Walter Massey, the committee plans to submit its choice to the full board for approval. Regulators will be asked to sign off on the choice, according to the person familiar with the matter, and then the plan will be shelved until needed.” [WSJ]
• Debt Plan Falls Short of Fixing CIT Lending – “CIT Group Inc.’s proposed debt-restructuring plan, even if successful, may do little to fix the company’s broken lending business…CIT’s ability to raise funds cheaply, a key requirement for any lender, remains limited by low credit ratings and restrictions imposed by a banking regulator.” [WSJ]
• Telecom boss quits in suicide row – “France Telecom’s second-in-command has resigned, after weeks of criticism over management’s handling of a spate of suicides by employees…Unions blame restructuring at the firm for some of the 24 suicides by company employees in the last 20 months.” [BBC]
• Auditing Standard 5: How Now, Brown Cow? – Homework, auditors. Read up. [RTA]

Review Comments | 10.02.09

• The New CPA Exam, Layoffs, and the Top Twitter Feeds in Accounting – Get caught up. [FINS]
• Trustee Sues Four Madoff Relatives, Seeking $199 Million – For stupidity, mind you. [NYT]
• Jobs Vanish – Government numbers? Wrong? [Floyd Norris/NYT]
• Deadline for Small Co. 404 Audit Reports: June 15 – Why not? [CFO]
• The Fed Fighter: DealBook’s Ron Paul Interview – Fight all you want Doc. [DealBook]
• Anheuser-Busch InBev Nears Parks Deal – Whales to be let go? [WSJ]

Moss Adams Admits New Partners, Campaign for ‘Global Eleven’ Next?

How about some good news to end your week? Well, that is, if you’re a newly minted partner at the 11th largest CPA firm and the largest firm with HQ on the Left Coast:
Press release:

Moss Adams announces the admission of six individuals to the partnership in September and two managing directors. The firm currently has 250 partners, 52 of which are women or 21%. These figures emphasize the firm’s growth and continued acceleration of Forum_W, the firm’s effort to support efforts to attract, develop, retain and advance women.

All very impressive, and we congratulate the new partners on putting their asses on the line. ‘Global Eleven Accounting Firm’ doesn’t quite have the cachet we’re looking for. Maybe ‘Elite Eleven’*? Whatever, but we’re sure Moss Adams wants included in some sort of moniker. Leave your suggestions in the comments. Or start drinking. Whatevs.
*Read Moss Adams marketing people: You’ll never get to ‘Global’ anything until you get a logo out there that we can use for an image. Put it on Wikipedia for crying out loud. Crowe Horwath has an image. Get with it.

Caption Contest Poll Results: E&Y at the Emmys

Your winner after the jump:


Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for E&Y_emmys.jpg
“EY reimbursed me for this dress with the money that would have been used to pay your bonus“
With nearly 75% of the vote. A landslide of Iranian proportions. The rest:
• Two more Deal or No Deal rejects reenact their failed auditions for the cameras – 11%
• The sun never sets on a badass. – 9%
• To help lower the deficit, the Secret Service started selling ad space on the President’s “football” – 5.5%
Is money all you people care about?

(UPDATE) Rumor Mill: KPMG Compensation Discussions Starting

PomeranianSP1324.jpgYour patience is unmatched, Klynveldians.
Rumor is that the Advisory practice in the Southeast region is having a conference call today (which is slightly more awkward than a voicemail) with all the non-exceptional managers and staff to communicate their banishment to compensation-Siberia. Our source indicated that this has never been done before, in case it sounds strange.
If you’ve got more details on this call or if you’re in another region and have details drop us a line. In the meantime, you’ll probably have to live with the official silence until at least Monday.
UPDATE, 4:02 pm: All right you guys. Sounds like it was a pretty awesome call. If you’re not above under an “SP5” you might actually get a pay cut and there’s no chance in HELL that you’re getting a raise. Also, apparently the HR rep phoned in from home and his dog was barking in the background which just crosses the line of appropriateness in all kinds of awesome ways. We’re picturing a pomeranian (can’t leave them alone, they eat the bloody furniture) but if we’ve got it wrong, please let us know.

Something for the Office Gift Exchange This Holiday Season

gem_worthless.jpgWe don’t know a damn thing about gemstones but we’ll go out on a limb to say that 10,700 carats is a lot. That’s the size of a “ruby” that E&Y has the esteemed pleasure of trying to sell, as the administrators of now bankrupt Wrekin Construction in the UK.
The stone was once valued around £11 million but turns out its worth closer to £100.
E&Y is now resorting to hocking this overpriced paperweight, that will certainly be re-gifted many times over, in Rock ‘n’ Gem Magazine in the UK and Colored Stone Magazine here in the Land of the Free.
Rare £11m gem becomes £100 rock [BBC]
Failed group’s £11m ruby ‘near worthless’ [The Daily Telegraph]

Job of the Week: Yes. That Zagat

hire me2.jpgIf you don’t have enough [insert anything] guides in your life, get yourself a job at Zagat, the mother of all guides to anything and then you’ll never have to wonder what to do ever again.
You may develop an annoyance, however, to all your friends asking for free copies.
Details, after the jump


Company: Zagat Survey
Location: New York
Title: Manager, Accounting
Responsibilities: Month end closing preparation; General ledger maintenance; Enter monthly journal entries and accruals; Account reconciliation and review; Account analysis; Supervise staff performing payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable functions; Sales tax & Commercial rent tax preparation; Prepare quarterly commissions; Budgeting experience a plus; Supervisory experience
Primary Qualifiations: Bachelors degree; CPA required; Great Plains a plus; Proficient on Excel; Paychex payroll software knowledge a plus; 4-7 years experience acting in role
See the full description at the GC Career Center and check out plenty of other jobs on the main page.

Creepy Accountant of the Week

Thumbnail image for pervert2.jpgNo matter how good this guy was at preparing tax returns, we recommend finding someone else, if you’re in the Mesa, AZ area:

Jess Alan Skousen was arrested at his Mesa accounting business Wednesday for allegedly having illegal child pornography on his laptop computer
Mesa Police Department spokesman Ed Wessing sai [sic] Skousen, 40, was arrested after his wife found sexual images of children on his computer.

Ouch. The wife turned him in. Can’t say that we blame her.

Wessing identified Skousen’s business as Self Tax Preparation on Stapley Road. The pictures found on the computer include those of children between ages of 2 and 15, some in sexual poses, according to Wessing. The Arizona Corporation Commission lists a number accounting, tax and other businesses under Skousen’s name.

Eight year-olds, Dude.
Mesa tax preparer arrested on child porn charges [Phoenix Business Journal]

Accountants Raiding Accountants Probably Makes for a Hilariously Awkward Scene

gun_awkward.jpgJesus, that was fast. After Wednesday’s snoozer raids at the E&Y office in Hong Kong, Icelandic police have raided the offices of KPMG and PwC in Reykjavik, Iceland, according to the Daily Telegraph.
More, after the jump

Police have raided the offices of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Reykjavik, seizing documents and computer data as part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity at three collapsed Icelandic banks…The office of Olafur Thor Hauksson, the Icelandic investigator charged with examining the collapse of
the three banks a year ago, confirmed that 22 policemen and six foreign accountants took part in the searches yesterday.

Six accountants? Whoa, this thing was way more serious. No coffee and bagel strategy here as it would have totally distracted the investigating accountants from their jobs.
Likewise, we doubt anyone was strapped for this raid. Especially the number crunchers. We can definitely picture them begging the police though, “C’mon, they don’t even have to be loaded. We’ll just leave them in the holsters. WE SWEAR.”
The most excitement that we can envision was some bean counter trash talk that may have escalated into open-hand slaps and flailing arms and legs. The real police, after enjoying this hilarious scene for a few moments, would have had no choice but to break up the nerd fight as it began encroaching on the investigation and other people’s personal space.
KPMG and PwC Reykjavik offices are raided by Icelandic police [The Daily Telegraph]

Preliminary Analytics | 10.02.09

dunkin.jpg• Dunkin’ Donuts president quits – After Thursday’s success, he must have wanted to go out on top. [BBC]
• Strong dollar ‘very important’: Geithner – Not only that but we have to convince the world that we’re thrifty. Then we wouldn’t be Americans, would we? [Reuters]
• Heads Should Have Rolled at Raters: Congresswoman – Pols using hindsight for grandstanding? [CFO]
• CIT Discloses Its Restructuring Plan – “By simultaneously soliciting votes for a prepackaged bankruptcy alongside the debt exchange offers, the company is hoping to scare enough bondholders into supporting the out-of-court restructuring effort.” Run away. [DealBook]
• Don’t forget to vote in the poll for our Caption Contest. It closes at 3 pm EDT.

Review Comments | 10.01.09

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for tiger-woods-buick-enclave1.jpg• Woods Becomes First Athlete to Earn $1 Billion, Forbes Says – Does that mean he can upgrade from a Buick? [Bloomberg]
• Global Convergence of Accounting Standards? In Whose Lifetime? – Jim Peterson’s take on the cat herding that is accounting rule convergence. [Re: Balance]
• Survey: Investors Want Enforcement, Not New Regulators – Oh? We thought vengeance was what they were looking for. [Compliance Week]
• Guess the Ken Lewis beard – Again, we picture the ZZ Top for KL. [FT Alphaville]
• Auditor-Small Issuer Controls Spats Seen – “Will smaller companies get along with their auditors when their internal controls get reviewed for the first time?” In short: No. [CFO]