Author: Caleb Newquist

Founding editor, Going Concern.

Your New Career: Actor

Are you a young bean counter totally apathetic towards your career choice? Do you wake up thinking that if you have to look at spreadsheets for one more day you might just go mental on everyone in your office?
Well, the gods are shining on you today:
See the role, after the jump

Casting for the short thriller “A Paper Trail”
A group of friends finds a large sum of money hidden away in the woods. Unfortunately the owners come looking for what is theirs.
Casting for the male and female leads:
Matt – A competent accountant who decides that the best course of action will be to keep the money.

Stacey – She is nervous and has her reservations about taking the money.
Send an email with your headshot and resume. We will be casting on Sunday, August 9th, from 12-5 @ The Rosendale Youth Center!

Sorry lady number crunchers, unless you’re capable of summoning your inner-Hillary Swank, this one is for the gents.
So dudes, basically no acting involved. Show up, looking however you normally look and act how you normally act: Competent. Best course of action is to keep the money. Completely natch.
Not a thespian? Then tell us what you’d rather be doing than pulling sample selections or researching 1031 exchanges. SHUDDER. Anything has gotta beat the hell out of what you’re working on right this second.
Casting for a Short Thriller film (Rosendale) [Craigslist.org]

Preliminary Analytics | 08.06.09

• Businesses Learn To Make Do With Fewer Workers – Sound familiar to anyone? [NPR]
• Judge raps $33m bank bonus fine – “A US judge has refused to approve a $33m (£19m) fine that Bank of America agreed to pay to settle charges that it misled investors about bonuses.” [BBC]
• SEC Asks to Self Fund to Allow for Better Enforcement – OH, that was the problem. [naked capitalsm]
• AIG Breakup Is Fee Bonanza – Bankers, lawyers, accountants. Everybody’s happy. Oh wait. Taxpayers. [WSJ]
• Madoff Victims Said to Start Getting Tax Refunds – Anger will only subside briefly. [DealBook]

Review Comments | 08.05.09

stanford10.jpg• Who Will Defend R. Allen Stanford? – There’s always…hmmm, anyone? [DealBook]
• Judge Orders Sale of Creation Science Theme Park to Pay Evangelist’s Tax Debts Agnostic judge probably. [TaxProf Blog]
• The alleged grifter who duped corporate giants – The fairer sex, taking it to the man. [Fortune]
• A Battle of Goliaths: Michael Bloomberg and His Gun Control Group Take on the NRA – At least this is a fair match. [Washington Post]
• Huron’s ex-CEO cashed out $8.3 million since last July But it wasn’t about the money. [Greg Burns/Chicago Tribune]
• IRS Commissioner Joins alliantgroup [Press Release]
• Bernard Madoff and the Solo Auditor Red Flag [Ross D. Fuerman]
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Grant Thornton Spreads Out the Liability, Admits Nineteen New Partners

grant-thornton-logo-with-rose.jpgNineteen individuals have proven their passion for the business of accounting (as well as an intrepid attitude towards liability) as G to the T admitted new partners and directors effective August 1.
The press release is your standard trite lexicon but we can’t help but notice GT taking the opportunity to slip in their favorite moniker, “Global 6 accounting organization” or a derivative of such. GT is bound and determined to get this to catch fire even though no one outside of the GT press team has probably uttered the phrase.
Grant Thornton LLP admits 19 new partners and principals to the firm [Press Release]

IASB Chairman Would Like the SEC to Get With It

TOLD YOU.jpgSir David Tweedie, IASB Chairman, would sure appreciate it if the SEC would make up its damn mind about whether or not to commit to converging U.S. GAAP with IFRS. He spoke at the American Association of Accountants (AAA) annual meeting in New York yesterday and figured he might as well call out the SEC, who seems to be stonewalling him. He’s giving them until 2011 to figure it out.
Tweedie has been making like some kind of financial reporting missionary, going all around the world preaching the good word of IFRS. He’s said he’ll have 150 believers by 2011. But everywhere he goes, all anyone can talk about is whether the U.S. is converted yet.
More, after the jump

“That is a question I am asked all around the world. The convergence program is designed to reduce the cost of transition. FASB is riding two horses: US GAAP and trying to converge at the same time, but so are we.”…If you’re going to have global standards, we need the US, but it can’t go on indefinitely,” he said

We’re impressed that the knighted bean counter is putting his foot down here. We figured the SEC and the FASB could just continue doing whatever it is they do and Tweedie would just keeping asking them about it every month or so like they owed him fifty bucks.
Tweedie Warns of 2011 Deadline for IFRS Choice [Web CPA via Accountancy Age]

Moss Adams Gives Venture Bank the ‘It’s Not You, It’s Me’ Routine

GeorgeCostanza_art_200v_20090306003944.jpgThings that could be perceived as bad:
• Your auditor is putting a going concern paragraph in your audit opinion.
• You agree with your auditors when they tell you that you have a material weakness in internal controls.
• It’s August 5th and you haven’t filed your 10-K..
Along with everything listed above, Venture Financial Group entered into an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco that lists a bunch of stuff that Venture can’t do. Plus they get to report to Fed-SanFran every quarter how they’re doing such a good job at not doing anything they’re not supposed to.
More, after the jump


Apparently all this was more excitement than Moss Adams could stand because they’re kicking Venture to the curb after the 2008 agreements are finished. The firm broke the news to Venture on July 24th and the SEC got the filing just last week.
Accounting firms being the dumper and not the dumpee is usually a good sign of damaged goods. Best of luck to Venture Bank in its quest to find new auditors.
Firm bows out of Venture audit [The News Tribune via Jr. Deputy Accountant]

Firm Watch: KPMG

KPMG_chair.jpgSo after dissecting opining on sliming P. Dubs and E&Y, we’re moving on to KPMG in round three. We’ll dispense with the pleasantries and get right to the list:
• New Century Lawsuit – This is the ball buster for KPMG. A $1 billion lawsuit filed back in April that alleges “grossly negligent audits”. This tale also includes a smoking gun quote from an email sent from New Century engagement partner to a specialist, “As far as I am concerned, we are done. The client thinks we are done. All we are going to do is piss everybody off.” We’re not sure if it’s possible to take that out of context.
Check out the rest of the Radio Station’s list, after the jump


• Madoff Exposure – Per D&O Diary, the Radio Station is named as a defendant in at least ten lawsuits as a result of auditing the Madoff feeder funds.
• Overtime Lawsuits – Listed as a defendant in five lawuits.
• Layoffs, Pay Freezes, etc. – Allegedly, the word that pay was being frozen was slowly leaked from the top on down. Layoffs have been pretty steady for the last twelve months including rounds in November and March in the audit and advisory practices. In addition, the ubiquitous trend of performance rating cuts is in full effect, and we just learned that by the this time last year, audit interns had heard yay or nay on receiving a full time offer. That probably makes for some nervous intoxicated co-eds.
• Miscellaneous – Phil Mickelson, the Radio Station’s walking billboard, was a bridesmaid at the U.S. Open for a third fourth fifth time.
Done-zo. Anything else you want to see tacked on? Drop us the dirt at tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll get it in for the final tab.

Try to Compose Yourselves After Reading This Post

Being accountants, we don’t have too may rock stars among us. Oh sure, maybe Tim Flynn is the cock of the walk at the Radio Station or Barry Salzberg can’t walk around Big D’s office without associates crawling all over each other to touch his clothes but these men pale in comparison to the immortal we are about to present to you.
If you saw this man on the street, his swagger would make your knees week, his impeccable attire would cause you to stare uncontrollably and the sound of his voice might overcome you with so much nervous excitement that you might projectile vomit all over him.
Find out who this man-god is, after the jump


We present you with this:
Tim2.png
Now we realize that the mere thought of Tim Gearty and Bob Herz on a cruise at the same time is probably more than most of you can handle but we had to share with you that the oracle of Becker Review was on Twitter bestowing encouragement and wisdom. All of you out there working to dominate the CPA exam can now rest easy that Tim will always be available in the Twitterverse.
You’re welcome.

Arlen Specter Not Pandering to the Bean Counter Vote

Arlen_Specter_official_portrait.jpgArlen Specter is many things. Senator. Cancer survivor. Some might say, turncoat. And since he is a newly minted Democrat, Specter is expected to prove his political stripes.
Well, Specter has decided that the best way to earn those stripes is to embrace the recent investor outrage and introduce legislation that will allow investors to sue accountants, lawyers, and investment banks, that provide, what Specter calls “substantial assistance” in a fraud.
More, after the jump


According to Bloomberg:

Shareholders are barred from suing parties that have only an indirect role in a fraud after Supreme Court decisions that limited liability to those directly and publicly involved in the scheme.The Specter measure would upend rulings in Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta Inc. of 2008 and Central Bank of Denver v. First Interstate Bank of Denver. Prior to the rulings, investor lawsuits against fraud accomplices were common, Langevoort said. The 1994 Central Bank decision was a “major gift” to individuals and corporations that aided in a fraud

The Refco scandal is right at the heart of this debate as attorneys, auditors, and investment bankers were all misled by Philip Bennet, Refco’s then-CEO. Suits against PwC, Grant Thornton, KPMG, and E&Y were dismissed back in April along with suits against several investment banks. Refco’s outside counsel Joseph Collins of Mayer Brown is currently involved in a lawsuit that is being reviewed by the SEC.
We’re all for making accountants responsible when they screw the pooch but if clients just flat out lie and go way the hell out of their way cover those lies up, there’s very little that can be done.
And if there’s one thing that keeps Big 5 4 partners up at night it’s the threat of litigation. The premise that this legislation would increase that litigious exposure is, at the very least, disconcerting to partners.
Specter Law Would Let Investors Sue Fraud Accomplices [Bloomberg]

Preliminary Analytics | 08.05.09

DonaldTrumpHair.jpg• Donald Trump Faces Bondholder Battle in Bid to Reclaim Casinos – Our advice: Don’t mess with this hair ego man. [Bloomberg]
• ADP Says U.S. Companies Decreased Payrolls by 371,000 – The trend of lesser bad news continues. [Bloomberg]
• Banks Get Picky In Doling Out Credit Cards – Postal workers rejoice. [WSJ]
• Chinese survey finds prostitutes more trusted than officials – More bang for your buck. [The Raw Story via Naked Capitalism]

Review Comments | 08.04.09

bill-clinton.jpg• Kim Pardons Journalists – Arkansas moxie does it again. We never doubted it for a second. [WSJ]
• SEC accuses GE of accounting fraud – Cue a smug but probably still unsatisfied Bill O’Reilly. [FT Alphaville]
• PayPal Users Hit by Global Service Outage – How will anyone pay for the Lehman schwag? [WSJ]
• SEC set to target flash trading – “The US Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to clamp down on lightning-fast “flash” trades made on electronic trading systems amid growing concerns that the practice puts some investors at a disadvantage.” And disadvantages are not the American way. [FT.com]