Ralph Janvey, the court appointed receiver in the Allen Stanford “where’s the f’n money Lebowski” case is what some people might call, shrewd.
Janvey is fighting to have certain brokerage accounts held by investors frozen because the holders of said accounts made principal withdrawals prior to the uncovering of the fraud.
The SEC kinda, maybe thinks that this is a little overboard and filed papers opposing Janvey’s suing of what the Commission calls “innocent fraud victims”.
We’re thinking that since Janvey is on the wildest of wild goose chases, he has had to resort to suing regular people that had the fortunate dumb luck to pull their money out of a Stanford Bank Institution garbage bag prior to the poop + fan.
SEC Opposes Motions in Stanford Case [WSJ]
Author: Caleb Newquist
Founding editor, Going Concern.
Guilty Madoff CFO Update
It’s offish. DiPascali pleaded guilty to all ten counts against him and faces 125 years in prison, just quarter century short of Boss Ponz. However, because he is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney, DiPascali may be lucky enough to get a sentence under the century mark.
The bright side for Frank DiPascali is that he gets to spend his last few days as a free man courtesy of a very nice sister who put up her house for the $2.5 million bond. Sentencing is tentatively set for May 2010.
DiPascali was the man that many Madoff investors corresponded with directly so it’s clear to us that he was LYING A LOT.
Per the WSJ:
The former chief financial officer for Bernard Madoff says he helped the disgraced financier and others “carry out a fraud that hurt thousands of people”…Mr. DiPascali said at the plea hearing that the transactions were “all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong, and I knew it was wrong at the time.”
Okay then, nothing really new there but we will be waiting patiently to hear the other names. Next bean counter up for book throwing is David Friehling, who was kind enough to rubber stamp the Madoff financial statements for around $14k a month. Bright side for Friehling is that he’s looking at 50% less time in jail then Bernie.
Let’s Get Right to the Heart of this Thing
And by that we mean money. We’ve started hearing rumors about the starting salaries for new associates and we don’t know what the hell to believe, so we need your help to set us straight.
We’ve heard $50k in Atlanta, $52k in Houston, $57k in DC and $61k in New York. Nothing yet from the left coast, so help us out. Sounds like signing bonuses are either significantly reduced and in some cases completely eliminated. Nothing has been firm specific but we’re guessing they’re all pretty close.
Talk to your fellow newly minted bean counters and find out the sitch on this year’s salaries and how it compares to last year’s newbies for your respective city. Also let us know if your start date has been pushed back. Discuss in the comments or send us the deets at tips@goingconcern.com.
Huron Consulting Has a New Problem
Huron Consulting, after cleaning house, admitting to some book cooking, and having multiple class action suits filed against it, now has a brand new SEC investigation to look forward to. This new investigation is in addition to a separate investigation the SEC was conducting related to its chargeable hours.
The new investigation relates to the accounting hocus-pocus that led to the announcement that three years of financial results were being restated. On top of all this, the 10-Q, due yesterday, has yet to be filed. The company said everything is cool though and that it will be filed…who the hell knows as soon as possible.
Huron crossed its heart and hoped to die that it would cooperate with the new investigation. After all, they’ve won new business since the scandal dropped, so not everybody thinks they’re crooks.
SEC investigating Huron accounting errors [Chicago Tribune]
More Madoff Justice Expected Today
As we mentioned last week, Frank DiPascali, the Chief Financial Officer Accounting Officer Number-Maker-Upper is going to be arraigned today on multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy and other bad stuff that will earn him a permanent wardrobe of bright orange or heavy denim jumpsuits. We’ll update you on the sitch after 3 pm EDT.
Respect the Expense Reimbursement Policy Or…
With the firms cracking down on expenses of every sort, including canceling the Holidays prior to the autumnal equinox, hopefully the following story doesn’t occur to any of you. At the very least, it can show what can happen when you have blatant disrespect for your firm’s expense reimbursement policy:
More, after the jump
A former Deloitte Consulting manager who disappeared on the day of her sentencing for bilking her employer out of more than $500,000 was found dead in a Costa Mesa park Saturday morning, authorities said….[Jamie] Watkins, a former operations manager for the Santa Ana office of Deloitte Consulting LLP, faced up to 10 years in federal prison after abusing the company’s expense reimbursements to steal about $550,000 to pay for things including property taxes and furniture.
As tragic as this story is, it serves as example to those of you that find yourself regularly explaining to an HR rep the $500 lunches you had at Bobby Vans and the theatre tickets that ended up on your last expense report. This may be where you are headed if you don’t shape up.
Deloitte manager hangs self [Orange County Register]
National Training Lore
A few weeks back we dabbled into the sex lives of those of you that call yourselves accountants. Several comments eluded alluded that national trainings are about as a good opportunity as some of you are going to get.
National trainings are not only a great time to make awkward sexual advances, they’re also a great opportunity to get together with hundreds of your peers and drunkenly complain about your superiors and subordinates. It’s also an opportunity to make a complete ass out of yourself in front of those same peers.
National trainings have also been known for chicanery such as but not exclusive to:
Check out the idiocy, after the jump
• All night excursions to the strip club where one person passes out in the bathroom and somehow the whole night ends up on your manager’s expense report.
• A night of bottle service that results in dragging several lifeless bodies back to the hotel but thanks to some friendly hotel staff, everyone ends up safely back in their rooms.
• Training Instructors showing up to class over an hour late, wearing clothes from the previous day and smelling like Mel Gibson.
• A week where, instead of spending your time learning accounting/tax/audit updates, you spend the entire week in your hotel room working a normal 12 to 14 hour day because your manager’s whip somehow has the range.
So because summer is winding down and national trainings are coming to end for another year, we’d like some stories to order to get an idea of how good/bad/ugly your trainings this year.
We’ve heard that some firms have shortened some of the trainings to just a few days rather than a full week and also that the firms are seriously clamping down on the expenses so maybe your city’s blowout party got axed or you got charged back for the round of shots you bought for everyone. Regardless share your experiences in the comments and send us other gossip that you want us to put up at tips@goingconcern.com.
Is Accounting Fraud Coming to Broadway?
It goes without saying that the lack of stage and screen productions of anything related to accounting is no accident.
We Americans crave the spoon-fed Hollywood experience and don’t have much patience for cerebral art. The Brits, on the other hand, have decided that accounting fraud is truly meant for the stage because Enron will start showing at the Royal Court Theatre on September 7th and run through November 7th, according to the Theatre’s website. 
Get the details, after the jump
The comedic tragedy stars Samuel West as Jeff Skilling and it has gotten excellent reviews in previews, indicating that they avoided the accounting aspects completely.
No word on the whether the play will make its way to the States but if it did we’d suggest James Gandolfini as Skilling, merely for the crucial scene where Skilling has a vein pop out of his forehead when he blows a gasket on an earnings call with skeptical analysts. We’d pull for Hugh Jackman as the Arthur Andersen partner but we’re guessing that it would end up being Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Discuss your casting choices in the comments and if you’re in London, you can see the play for as cheap as ten quid so go get yourself some culture.
Enron…The Play [Bruce Carton/Compliance Week]
Preliminary Analytics | 08.11.09
• ‘Urgency’ Drives SEC Crackdown – Does this woman look like she has a shred of urgency? [WSJ]
• CIT delays report, could have to file for bankruptcy – Can someone please handle this? Thanks. [Reuters]
• BofA Judge Seeks More Data on SEC Bonus Deal – Judge Rakoff certainly doesn’t feel the urgency. [WSJ]
• AIG’s Liddy Heads Toward Retirement With ‘$1, a Few Bruises’ – And with any luck, won’t ever appear in front of a Congressional committee ever again. [Bloomberg]
E&Y Appreciates the Little People
E&Y’s Dallas office sure appreciates their new associates because they’ll be the only ones getting pay raises this year. It’s either that or they want to the put them in the position for additional ridicule until the fresh batch of new associates comes on.
According to the tip we received, the announcement was made at the townhall meeting today and this is first office of any firm that we’ve heard of to make an official announcement to employees that pay was being frozen.
Those being promoted to a new level (e.g. SA to Manager) will receive bonuses but no details were given. We’ll update as we learn more.
Review Comments | 08.10.09
• Bank of America Will Pay $55 Million to Settle Claims – In other news, Angelo Mozilo still appears that he has, at least partially, descended from Oompa Loompas [Bloomberg]
• U.S. recession seen ending in third quarter – Hold your breath in 3…2…1…[Reuters]
• Huron Shareholders Sue over Accounting Scandal – Yes, P. Dubya is named. [Web CPA]
• Swiss Cabinet Discusses UBS’s Legal Woes – It’s pretty clear that IRS is just going to nag the living crap out of the Swiss Government until they give the Service all the bloody names. [WSJ]
• OMG I HATE MY JOB!! Facebook bitching about work will get you insta-fired. – Best to stick to the trite statements about your weekend plans, hating Mondays, how nice/crappy the weather is, etc. [Adland]
Ernst & Young Interns Receiving Offers Today?
Guest 6 @ 1:03 informs us that interns may be returning from their little rendezvous with their international counterparts to find out if they made the cut of those receiving full time offers. This is clearly a matter of “win or lose, we still booze”.
So whether you’re a proud new E&Y’er or you dreams of being a CPA-rock star have been blown to smithereens, let us know the details. If you’ve got the scoop on salaries and numbers discuss in the comments or send us tips to tips@goingconcern.com