Author: GoingConcern

Job of the Day: Peak6 Investments Needs a Senior Accountant

Peak6 Investments is looking for an experienced accountant to join their team in Chicago.

An ideal candidate will possess superior analytical and reconciliation skills, at least five years of experience in Big 4 accounting is required; CPA designation and previous payroll knowledge is a plus.


Company: Peak6 Investments, LP

Title: Senior Accountant

Location: Chicago, IL

Description: This position will require you to manage accounts of the general ledger within a specific business unit of PEAK6 for which you will be solely responsible in addition, serve as the main contact for all payroll related issues.

Responsibilities: Manage accounts of the General Ledger System; Post and reconcile journal entries; Process semi-monthly payroll for 400+ employees; Work with third parties to resolve payroll tax issues; Assist with the annual audit and be a point person for outside auditors; Drive complex reconciliations Communicate with business leaders within your given business unit; Understand and apply regulatory business rules to accounting procedures.

Qualifications/Skills: Bachelor degree in Accounting, Finance or related degree; Prior Broker Dealer or similar industry experience preferred; Minimum 5 years experience with automated accounting systems in a customer service, high volume, deadline driven production environment is required. Mastery of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and have familiarity with SEC reporting rules. Creating journal entries and maintaining accounts within an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is required—Dynamics GP is preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

REMEC Court Decision Could Expose Companies to More Accounting Fraud Litigation

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

As if it wasn’t a big enough risk already, CFOs may have to brace themselves for more private litigation over accounting fraud if a court decision on April 21 involving failed telecom equipment maker REMEC serves as precedent. The good news is that plaintiffs will have to show evidence of the executives’ intent in such cases.


Most cases involving accounting are either dismissed because they involve judgment or are settled before they go to trial, Robert Brownlie, a partner in the law firm of DLA Piper who represented the defendants in the REMEC case, told CFOZone last Thursday. The Del Mar, Calif., company filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

One of the largest such cases involved former Lucent executives, whom shareholders charged had defrauded them through improper accounting for goodwill. In that case, shareholders agreed in 2003 to accept a $600 million settlement.

In contrast to the Lucent case, the one filed by shareholders against REMEC’s former CEO, Ronald Ragland, and former CFO, Winston Hickman, was dismissed, though it also rested on charges that they misled investors because they didn’t write off goodwill that was impaired.

But the dismissal was more difficult to achieve than it would otherwise have been, said Brownlie, because the plaintiffs submitted evidence of internal reports and testimony showing that the company was behind schedule on certain objectives and not meeting its internal forecasts. The court said that those reports created a factual issue that should be determined by a jury; the defendants had to show there was no evidence of intent to deceive on the part of management.

“Normally, with matters of opinion or judgment, you either can’t bring a suit or it’s very difficult to do so,” Brownlie said. But he warned that the decision could mean more cases against corporate executives over accounting fraud.

The court dismissed the charges even though the plaintiffs’ accounting experts testified that they would have reached different conclusions than the former executives did.

Brownlie added that his case was helped by evidence of good faith conduct by the defendants, including evidence of transparency between the company and its auditors, disclosures of disappointing results and write-offs of other accounting items during the period of the alleged fraud and the absence of stock sales.

Describing the outcome for CFOs as “both good and bad news,” Brownlie said the decision showed that the critical issue in such cases will be “a connection between claims and evidence.” And he cautioned that in other accounting cases, it’s likely to be harder to defend executives on the basis of intent, which is why he said “there’s a paradox” in the REMEC decision.

Job of the Day: RBC Needs a Senior Audit Manager

RBC is looking for a Senior Audit Manager to lead a team to provide independent risk assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of risk management practices, internal control and corporate governance processes in the Capital Markets Finance areas

Requirements include a CA or equivalent, an accounting degree and experience working in financial services with an in-depth knowledge of both U.S. and Canadian GAAP. This position is located in New York.


Company: RBC

Title: Senior Audit Manager

Location: New York, NY

Description: In support of the Senior Manager, Capital Markets Finance, provide independent, objective risk assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of risk management practices, internal control and corporate governance processes in the Capital Markets Finance areas. Work with management in achieving business objectives by creating solutions to improve business operations, while remaining objective and independent. Key stakeholders include senior management, external auditors, and regulators. Results ultimately impact shareholders, employees and customers. Engagement is defined as a specific assignment, task, or review activity, such as: an internal audit, design review, fraud examination, or consultancy. An engagement may include multiple tasks or activities designed to accomplish a specific set of related objectives.

Responsibilities: Leadership/People Management – Lead a team of senior managers and professional auditors responsible for complex and large engagements in terms of product, location or client relation. – Direct, counsel, and instruct staff assigned to the engagement and review audit plan, findings and reports for sufficient scope and for accuracy. – Provide leadership, coaching, performance management and personal development support. – Ensure that we have competent and sufficient engagement resources, with relevant skill sets to meet each audit and our annual plan. – Raise the technical knowledge of the group through various courses, seminars and in-house training in the areas Capital Markets Finance and related risk management framework, compliance and audit techniques. – Back up for primary Senior Relationship Manager Audit & Planning – In concert with Senior Manager, Capital Markets Finance develops the annual Audit Plan for Capital Markets Finance ensuring that audits confirm to regulatory and internal audit requirements – Provide input and participate in the IAS strategic planning process.

Qualifications/Skills: In depth knowledge of business and key functions of Capital Markets Finance – Project Management – Proficient in auditing principles and techniques – Must have the ability to quickly understand the risks associated with new services and/or routines, products and to formulate practical audit procedures to adequately monitor new risk and ensure adherence to limits. – A understanding of management principles that enable recognition and evaluation of materiality and significant deviations from good management practices – In-depth knowledge of US and Cdn GAAP, complex accounting, auditing standards, business processes – Minimum 10-15 years banking/audit experience.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: UBS Needs an Accounting Director

UBS is looking for someone to join their Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) Structuring Group at the Director level who has expertise in both U.S. GAAP and IFRS.

The position requires four years of relevant experience, and a CPA. Experience in a Big 4 transaction services group is ideal. This position is located in Stamford, CT.


Company: UBS AG

Title: Executive Director/Director – FICC Structuring – Accounting Expert

Location: Stamford, CT

Responsibilities: The candidate will be expected to (1) Structure and execute transactions, and (2) Support the Structuring Group in analyzing and structuring the accounting aspects of transactions. The candidate will report to Head of US RATL.

Qualifications/Skills: The ideal candidate will have practiced accounting in a transaction services group at a Big 4 accounting firm with experience in US GAAP and IFRS. The candidate should have a track record of innovation/creativity. Minimum of 4 years proven relevant experience; 4 year Bachelor’s degree or international equivalent; CPA.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: Genworth Financial Needs a Senior Tax Analyst

Genworth Financial is looking for an experienced tax professional to assume senior tax responsibilities including compliance and accounting for income taxes.

The position is located in Richmond, Virgina, requires a minimum of three years experience and a CPA is preferred.


Company: Genworth Financial

Title: Federal Income Tax Senior Analyst

Location: Richmond, VA

Responsibilities: An experienced tax professional to assume senior tax responsibilities including activities relating to federal income tax compliance and accounting for income taxes. The successful candidate will join a team of tax professionals that are responsible for all tax compliance and tax accounting for the Company including controllership.

Qualifications/Skills: BA/BS in Accounting; 3-10 years experience with an accounting firm, large internal tax function; 2-4 years tax experience for a US insurer; Outstanding written and oral communication skills; Ability to read, interpret and summarize technical standards, tax and legal documents; Demonstrated ability to solve technical tax or accounting issues in a fast-paced environment, and to communicate tax or accounting requirements effectively to a non-technical audience; Experience with Tax, GAAP or STAT accounting principles; Expertise with Excel, Word and PowerPoint software; CPA is preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Goldman Sachs May Inspire a Redefinition of “Fiduciary Duty”

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

One bit of commentary I’ve noticed in the blogosphere following yesterday’s Goldman show is that the bank could toggle back and forth between being an investment advisor and a broker dealer when it came to any fiduciary duty it owed to investors in its crappy mortgage deals.

That may or may not be a loophole that needs closing, as Senator Collins’ line of inquiry suggested. Surely, banks like Goldman shouldn’t be able to use it as such.

But it’s important to remember that this is not an issue in the SEC’s case against the bank.


Take another look at the complaint. It charges Goldman with violations of three specific provisions of the securities laws, Section 17 (a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10 (b) and Rule 10-b (5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All of them relate to deceit, plain and simple.

Here’s the exact wording from the complaint: Goldman, the SEC charges, “employed devices, schemes or artifices to defraud, made untrue statements of material facts or omissions of material facts necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or engaged in transactions, practices or courses of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon persons.”

Nope, nothing about fiduciary duty there.

Goldman’s defense here, essentially, is that the bank didn’t have to disclose those facts the SEC refers to, because the investors in the deal in question were sophisticated or already knew or should have known that another party that was betting against them had helped select the portfolio, and that any other information it failed to disclose wasn’t material.

Nothing about fiduciary duty there, either.

So while the back and forth over that issue may be important to any legislation aimed at reforming such practices, it’s not strictly relevant to the legal case.

Of course, we’re talking about a jury trial here, so the atmospherics surrounding the case, including what the bank should have done that it wasn’t legally required to do, aren’t totally irrelevant.

Anyway, I was somewhat puzzled over the significance of the fiduciary issue when I stumbled across it earlier this morning. And I figured others might be as well.

It’s Time to Bury the Business Technology Medicine Show

Business technology is a continually changing landscape, but one underlying theme seems to remain constant – the general presumption on the part of sellers AND buyers (especially buyers!) is that their new technology will magically cure a business of all its ills. Since ly buyers of this stuff, take note.

I think this fallacy of thinking transcends the saccharine marketing tactics and arm-waving that normally accompanies these offerings. Sure, a slick sales and marketing troupe can juice the numbers, but there’s more to it.

The deeper message is that we, all of us, are predisposed to WANT to believe in a cure-all.


It’s as true for business & technology as it is for weight-loss, depression, ADHD, and erectile dysfunction. We have been falling for the same old Medicine Show forever, only have our own naive human nature to blame.

During the late 1880s and all the way up to WWII, Medicine Shows peddled their dubious Snake Oil offerings all over the USA. Trumpeting cures for everything from arthritis to cancer, these guys were enthusiastically welcomed into communities despite the dim prospects for validating their claims.

That was a long time ago but how less true is it today? How often are we still willing to download the responsibility for our own well-being onto a pill? How often would we rather buy our way out of organizational inefficiencies with the purchase of a new software application than undertake the grind of fixing a broken or outdated business process?

We have made massive technological advances in both medicine and software and continue to create innovations that move us forward, enhancing user experience as we learn from our mistakes. The outcomes resulting from today’s medicinal fixes may be more tangible today due to the advent of regulation and certain minimum standards (when operating under the auspices of the FDA… not always the case!). The outcomes from new software are improving, but the human element is still critical for driving user adoption.

But there are side-effects. Beyond the cash out of pocket, what price will be paid? A well known anti-depressant lists the following as possible side-effects:

I’ll allow for the fact there are tens of thousands of legal hours that go into these disclosure documents to protect against litigation, but holy smokes man! There’s a couple real dealbreakers there in my view.

So how about new business technology? What sort of side-effects may result?

• The need for extensive training
• Upgrades to hardware
• Incompatibility with other business software
• Inability to capture the business processes properly
• Retaining business processes unsuited to the new environment
• Time to implementation
• Cost of consultants and additional IT guys
• Continued risk of obsolescence
• Internal resistance to change

Examining the possible side-effects and unintended consequences is a critical element of ANY software selection process. Software salesmen won’t be able to distill this inevitable contingency. They didn’t concoct this brew, they just sell it. I’ve known software salesmen that can barely crack open an Excel doc without crashing their computer. Only through a reflective process within your own company can you hypothesize on how the introduction of new technology will affect operations.

Further, it is absolutely critical to examine your existing business processes in the context of a new software. The tendency is to try and maintain existing processes even though they may be as obsolete as the outgoing software. For example, a local company was implementing a new system. The works! ERP, Accounting, and CRM. These systems would aaaallll work together.

Oh, but they weren’t going to purchase the Financial Statement Consolidation Module. They would develop a work-around in Excel instead. It was not surprising to me that they had already failed once on an implementation (to the tune of $2 million bucks).

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I saw a company bring in a powerful reporting technology and allowed a whole bunch of poorly trained users to run hog wild in there significantly reducing the value of the system. The reports being produced could not be trusted. The fix was to lock everything down and bottleneck the reporting process which just led to more work-arounds as users were unwilling to wait it out.

The software being produced today tends to follow a Best Practice approach. If you choose to proceed outside of that framework, it might be an indication that your company is operating outside of Best Practice.

The truth about business software is that it’s work. Productivity gains resulting from new systems are typically back-end loaded. On the front-end, there’s cost, there’s risk, there’s effort, there’s training, there’s the harsh reality that can only come from looking in the mirror and facing the truth about how work ACTUALLY gets done.

Understanding this means burying the Medicine Show paradigm.

Geoff Devereux as been active in Vancouver’s technology start-up community for the past 5 years. He regularly attends and contributes to the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city through the Vancouver Enterprise Forum, guest blogging on Techvibes.com, and as a mentor with ISS of BC. Prior to getting lured into tech start-ups, Geoff worked in various fields including a 5 year stint in a tax accounting firm. He is currently working in a marketing/social media role with Indicee, a Saas Business Intelligence company, bringing B.I. to mere mortals.

Job of the Day: Fannie Mae Needs an Accounting Manager

Fannie Mae is looking for an accounting manager who will manage a staff responsible for collecting, recording, analyzing, and reporting accounting transactions.

The position is located in Dallas, requires six years experience, including 2-4 years of management experience and a CPA license.


Company: Fannie Mae

Title: Accounting Manager – REO and Reserve Accounting

Location: Dallas, TX

Description: Manage a team engaged in collecting, recording, analyzing, and reporting accounting transactions. May manage operations related to general accounting or other specialty areas. Hire, manage, train, develop, and evaluate staff. Develop, implement, document, and ensure adherence to practices and procedures. Participate in or lead special projects.

Responsibilities: Manage daily team activities related to production of timely, accurate, and reliable financial information including profit and loss and balance sheet accounts, booking accounting transactions, preparing and validating account reconciliations, and resolving issues and exceptions on a timely basis; Plan, review, and/or prepare internal and external reports, schedules, and statements; Review, establish, and monitor financial controls. Identify opportunities to streamline and automate. Improve efficiencies to reduce costs; Respond to Audit, consultant, and other stakeholder inquiries and requests; Identify and facilitate technology changes to support business needs; Coordinate and administer assignments, monitor team progress, and maintain schedules; Develop team members and provide ongoing professional guidance and direction.

Qualifications/Skills: Bachelor’s Degree in accounting required; CPA required; 6 or more years of progressively challenging experience in accounting, financial analysis, application of accounting principles, and accounting controls; 2-4 years of management experience with motivating, coaching and developing staff in pursuit of creating a performance driven culture.  Additionally, experience managing complex projects involving multiple cross-functional stakeholders and strict time constraints required; Understanding of complex accounting regulations and guidance, including GAAP, SEC, FASB, AICPA, required. Strong knowledge in accounting pronouncements associated with real estate strongly desired; Previous experience in an SEC reporting environment and/or Big 4 Public Accounting experience preferred; Experience with accounting processes of a mortgage company, large financial service institution or real estate company required.; Previous experience implementing and documenting SOX controls required; Demonstrated ability to manage and direct a team with an emphasis on developing the team to high performance; Ability to provide regular feedback to team members and prepare performance reviews as required by company timelines.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

SEC Wins Backdating Case Against Former Maxim CFO

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

The SEC, under attack last week for its Goldman lawsuit and porn allegations, late Friday finally had a victory to celebrate.

Carl Jasper, the former chief financial officer of Maxim Integrated Products was found liable for securities fraud in a stock-option backdating lawsuit filed by the SEC’s San Francisco office, according to Bloomberg.

Carl Jasper, the former chief financial officer of Maxim Integrated Products was found liable for securitioption backdating lawsuit filed by the SEC’s San Francisco office, according to Bloomberg.

It was a rare civil jury trial involving backdating allegations.

Even rarer, it was the second backdating case decided in a court in one week.

Earlier in the week the former CEO of KB Home was convicted of four felony counts in a criminal stock option backdating case.

In the Jasper case, the former finance executive of the maker of chips for laptop computers was found liable on eight out of 11 counts, and cleared him on three, according to The Recorder. Bloomberg said he was found liable for fraud, lying to auditors, and aiding Maxim’s failure to maintain accurate books and records.

“We are pleased that a jury sitting in the heart of Silicon Valley recognized that stock-option backdating is, in fact, a fraudulent practice that matters to investors, and that Mr. Jasper, as the CFO of a public company, was ultimately responsible for misleading investors about the accuracy of Maxim’s financial reports,” Mark Fickes, trial counsel for the SEC, told the wire service in an e-mail statement after the eight-day trial.

Jasper’s lawyer, Steven Bauer, told Bloomberg in an e-mail he will ask the judge to overrule the jury verdict at a May 24 hearing. “Carl Jasper is a good man who never intended to do anything wrong,” he reportedly said. “This is the first step in a long road, and we are confident that in the end he will prevail.”

In late 2007, the SEC filed civil charges against Maxim, Jasper and former chief executive officer John F. Gifford, alleging that they reported false financial information to investors by improperly backdating stock option grants to Maxim employees and directors.

The Commission alleged that Jasper helped the company fraudulently conceal tens of millions of dollars in compensation expenses through the use of backdated, “in-the-money” option grants.

In a separate action, Gifford agreed to pay more than $800,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties to settle charges relating to his role in the options backdating.

Maxim, without admitting or denying the Commission’s allegations, consented to a permanent injunction against violations of the antifraud and other provisions of the federal securities laws.

The Commission’s complaints also alleged that Jasper was aware of the improper backdating practices, drafted backdated grant approval documents for Maxim’s CEO to sign, and disregarded instructions from CEO Gifford to record an expense in connection with certain backdated options. According to the Commission, Gifford should have known that the company was not reporting expenses for those in-the-money stock options and instead was falsely reporting that they were granted at fair market value.

According to The Recorder, in his opening statement at the trial, Bauer said Gifford, who is now deceased, was to blame for the backdating and not Jasper.”You can’t talk about options at Maxim without talking about Mr. Gifford,” Bauer reportedly told the court. “You can’t talk about picking dates without talking about Mr. Gifford.”

The SEC is seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement of wrongful profits, a civil penalty, and an order barring Jasper from acting as an officer or director of a public company.

Early last week, Bruce Karatz, the former CEO of KB Home was convicted of four felony counts in a stock option backdating case. He was found guilty of two counts of mail fraud, one count of lying to company accountants and one count of making false statements in reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to published reports.

He was acquitted on 16 other counts, including mail and wire fraud, securities fraud and filing false proxy statements, according to Bloomberg.

He faces up to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Job of the Day: Deutsche Bank Needs a Finance Manager

Deutsche Bank is looking for someone to join its Finance Division as a Finance Manager of Global Banking. Responsibilities will include stakeholder management, business solutions, validation and control.

Candidates need a minimum of seven years experience with background that is familiar with both U.S. GAAP and IFRS.


Company: Deutsche Bank

Title: Finance Manager – Global Banking

Location: New York, NY

Responsibilities: Stakeholder Management – the establishment of stakeholder priorities and the development of open communication and feedback with them. Prioritizing business requirements given the resources available; Business Solutions – providing innovative solutions to business requirements, reviewing new structures and business opportunities. You will also challenge new product initiatives to ensure that business assumptions are accurate; Validation & Control – reviewing offshore produced profit and loss (P&L) and risk data produced by service centers. Monitoring key performance indicator performance and developing a thorough understanding of the products and business drivers. This includes P&L, Balance sheet and risk weighted asset analysis; Acting as the contact point to advise on local generally accepted accounting practice and regulatory requirements; Continuing to develop and enhance the relationship and business knowledge of the Professional service centre in Mumbai and to ensure proper accounting is followed especially by the offshore production teams; Move existing onshore finance production to the PSC

Qualifications/Skills: Accounting or Finance background (IFRS and US GAAP); Relevant product knowledge-Securities Lending, Trust And Securities Services (Custody, Hedge Fund administration, Corporate Trust-Structured Financial Services, Global Debt Services); Strong Excel, Essbase and PowerPoint skills are required; 7-12 years of experienced desired.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: An International Bank Needs a VP of Technical Accounting

Ashton Lane Group has a client looking for a VP of Technical Accounting that will be responsible for addressing accounting issues under both U.S. GAAP and IFRS.

Candidates need at least eight years of experience, a CPA license, and a Masters degree is a plus.


Recruiter: Ashton Lane Group

Title: VP – Technical Accounting

Location: New York, NY

Description: Advisory expert for complex accounting policies for an international bank

Responsibilities: Analyze accounting treatment for a wide range of complex transactions under both US GAAP and IFRS; Provide on-going support to the financial and regulatory control functions; Work closely with a network of experienced technical accountants globally to provide a cohesive accounting framework; Assist in reviewing US GAAP financial statements and filings; Participate in the new product and trade review functions in New York; Stay abreast of new and emerging accounting developments and assessing their impact on the business.

Qualifications: CPA (or equivalent) with 8+ years financial control experience within financial services; Broad knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US GAAP; Excellent PC skills, proficient in Excel, knowledge of GL packages a plus; Strong interpersonal and communication skills; Bachelors Degree or equivalent required, Masters degree a plus.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.