Rise Up! BDO USA Is Gonna Double Its Offshore Workforce, Mostly in India
[Ed. note: scroll down for assy commentary and screenshots of BDO leadership’s visit to India just days after they laid off a bunch of people in advisory, I need to get this part out of the way first] Financial Times has written about BDO USA’s plan to double its offshore workforce and couched the move […]
Layoff Watch ’23: BDO USA Cuts 85 People in Advisory, Wishes Them the Very Best on the Way Out the Door
Fresh off the rumor mill: BDO USA has cut 85 people from advisory, announced via internal email from brand new advisory head Eskander Yavar to all of his service line this afternoon. We were provided part of the email which reads: Today was a difficult day for our practice — we reduced our workforce by […]
BDO Will Audit EY Consulting, or Whatever That Business is Gonna Be Called
The Wall Street Journal has written a pretty detailed account of comments EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio made to WSJ’s CFO Network Summit earlier this week, scroll down to skip past a bunch of words and watch the clip. Of note, the split vote is now expected to happen in April. “I […]
BDO USA Botched More Than Half of Its Audits Inspected By the PCAOB In 2021
Fat Joe’s favorite audit firm once again had a spectacularly horrible PCAOB inspection report. In the 2021 inspection of BDO USA, LLP, the PCAOB assessed the firm’s compliance with laws, rules, and professional standards applicable to the audits of public companies. We selected for review 30 audits of issuers with fiscal years generally ending in […]
BDO’s Global Revenue Went Up About a Billion Dollars in 2022
The results are in at BDO, and the fifth largest accounting firm in the world brought in $12.8 billion in revenue during its 2022 financial year, which ended on Sept. 30—an 8.5% increase over last year’s revenue of $11.8 billion. The new guy in charge of BDO globally, Pat Kramer, said, “In the change-dominated world […]
BDO USA Will Continue to Be Wayne’s World For the Foreseeable Future
Wayne Berson will be taking pies to the face from BDO USAers for several more years, as he was re-elected last month to his fourth term as Bravo Delta Oscar’s CEO in the U.S. BDO USA, LLP, one of the nation’s premier accounting and advisory firms, announced the re-election of Wayne Berson as CEO for […]
BDO UK Spreads the Load
FT had an interesting story yesterday about a situation across the pond: average BDO UK partner pay fell 15 percent to £647,000 (USD$794k) because a hiring spree took a bite out of profits. Last year, BDO UK partners walked away with more than even EY and KPMG partners. They aren’t worried about it though, the […]
Ex-BDO Atlanta Employee Who Shot and Killed Her Former Boss Was Indicted on Murder Charges
A Fulton County grand jury on Nov. 11 indicted Raissa Kengne, a former IT audit manager at BDO USA in Atlanta, in the August shooting deaths of her ex-supervisor at the accounting firm and the property manager of the condominium building where she lived. Kengne, 34, was charged with two counts of murder, two counts […]
BDO Went to America’s Hat (Again) for Its Next Global CEO
BDO went to the well again (the well being Canada) to find its newest global CEO, Pat Kramer. And the guy Kramer is replacing is the same guy he replaced as BDO Canada CEO seven years ago. BDO has today [Nov. 1] announced that Pat Kramer, former CEO of BDO in Canada and a member […]
Some High Level Folks Have Abruptly Left BDO and No One Seems to Know Why (UPDATE)
People who know know there’s something happening at BDO USA. We are working on getting to the bottom of a few things that we can’t quite share with you until we have more information but in the meantime, we need to talk about how leadership is apparently getting axed — or leaving? — and no […]
Promotion Watch ’22: BDO USA Gives 69 People Fancy New Titles
People who know, know BDO USA recently promoted 49 people to partner and 20 people to principal for fiscal year 2023. The class of FY 2023 is the same size as the class of FY 2022—and one of the largest in the firm’s history. Among the 69 new partners and principals: 22: The number of […]
Fat Joe is Suing BDO
TMZ reported over the weekend that Fat Joe is suing his longtime accountant Andre N. Chammas and Chammas’ firm BDO for alleged misappropriation of funds. Oh and he claims that BDO is running some kind of Ponzi scheme. According TMZ’s review of the legal documents, Fat Joe noticed “some accounting regularities” after Chammas’ assistant Vanessa […]
There is a GoFundMe for the Wife of Murdered BDO Atlanta Managing Director Wesley Freeman
Wesley Freeman with his wife, Alicia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that a GoFundMe campaign has been started for the family of Wesley Freeman, the BDO Atlanta managing director who was shot and killed by his former BDO colleague Raissa Kengne on Aug. 22. Here is a Facebook post from Beth Lee Garner, national practice leader […]
Ex-BDO IT Audit Manager Raissa Kengne Charged in Deadly Atlanta Shooting (UPDATE)
[Update at bottom of post with charges filed against Raissa Kengne; internal email from BDO about the shooting.] A woman who was arrested earlier today after allegedly shooting three people, killing two of them, in Midtown Atlanta is reportedly a former audit manager at BDO USA. As of 11:40 p.m. ET, police have yet to […]
Compensation Watch ’22: Did Huge Revenue Boost = Better Raises For BDO USA Employees? (UPDATE)
[UPDATE: New average raise percentage for L6->L7 in 2022.] A couple weeks ago we reported on BDO USA’s stellar fiscal 2022, as the firm raked in just under $2.5 billion in revenue—a nearly 25% increase over 2021’s revenue of $2 billion. At the end of last week’s post, we wondered whether BDO’s large revenue gain […]
BDO USA Had a Pretty Good 2022 Revenue-Wise
One year after cracking $2 billion in revenue for the first time, BDO USA added another 25% to that total during its fiscal year 2022 which ended on April 30. BDO reported revenue of $2,490,400,000 in 2022, up from $2,000,300,000 in 2021. It’s the 10th year of revenue growth under CEO and leader of the […]
BDO USA Is Finally Trying to Do Something to Improve Its Horrible Audit Quality
While PCAOB inspection reports are only one indicator of how good or bad a public accounting firm’s audit quality is, it’s still pretty embarrassing when a firm gets a bad report card. Consecutive years of horrible inspection reports (2013 and 2014) is what drove KPMG executives to hatch a scheme to steal confidential audit inspection […]
BDO Says It Is No Longer Doing Business In Russia and Belarus
The latest top accounting firm to turn its back on Russia and Belarus is No. 5 on your global scorecard, BDO, which said in a statement on Tuesday that “no BDO firm will work with any sanctioned Russian and Belarussian entities including the Russian and Belarussian government, Russian and Belarussian state-owned enterprises and sanctioned individuals […]
Here Is a Graphic That Shows All You Need to Know About BDO’s 2021 Global Revenue
Pretty much all accounting firm press releases are filled with back-patting gobbledygook, but recaps of a firm’s most recent financial year take the word salad to the extreme. For example, BDO’s recent press release on its FY 2021 global revenue. Execs at BDO, the fifth-largest accounting firm in the world by revenue, probably gave the […]
Compensation Watch ’21: BDO USA Is Dangling a Mid-Year Raises Carrot (NEW UPDATE)
[Update on Dec. 13.] At the beginning of December, we got a tip from a BDOer who told us, “Communications started today. Mid-year raises are being awarded to all supposedly but individuals are getting different percentages.” This was after we were told that BDO was giving its employees an extra $500 stipend for both December […]
BDO Is Moving Into Ronald McDonald’s Old Stomping Grounds
If someone were to say, “BDO is fucking clown shoes,” he or she wouldn’t be wrong. And it’s not because of the firm’s horrendous auditing of late. It’s because a BDO USA digital advisory business will soon be based in “The House That Ronald Built.” On Nov. 10 Crain’s Chicago Business reported: The billionaire hair-care […]
BDO USA’s Auditing Is Still Ass, According to 2020 PCAOB Inspection Report
When the PCAOB gave a preview of its first batch of COVID-era inspection reports for annually inspected public accounting firms in October, the audit cops said: For the majority of the annually inspected audit firms, we identified fewer findings in 2020 compared to our 2019 inspections. Notice how the PCAOB used the word “majority” and […]
Promotion Watch ’21: BDO USA Admits 69 Lucky Boys and Girls to Partnership
The number of new partners in the fiscal year 2022 class at BDO USA would make Bill and Ted snicker. For some reason, we didn’t post anything last year about the FY 2021 new partners at BDO. I blame the pandemic, which is what I blame most things on these days. But this latest class […]
BDO USA Did Not Feel the COVID Pinch In 2021
As of right now, BDO USA has locked down the sixth spot in the largest U.S. public accounting firms by revenue, after officially announcing this morning that its fiscal year 2021 revenue eclipsed $2 billion, an all-time high. Bravo Delta Oscar came in at $2,000,300,000 for the 12-month period ending April 30, representing a year-over-year […]
Compensation Watch ’21: Did BDO USA Ante Up This Year?
Over the last week or so we analyzed how raises this year compared to previous years at RSM US and Grant Thornton. Now it’s time to take a look at raises this year at the last of the mini-Big 3 firms, BDO USA, which leapfrogged GT to become the sixth-largest public accounting firm in the […]
Those Who Know, Know BDO … Is Consistently Terrible At Auditing
Here’s a number of the day for ya: 50.7%. That is the average failure rate of BDO USA audits in PCAOB inspection reports from 2010 to its most recent 2019 report, in which PCAOB inspectors found significant errors in 42% of audits reviewed. Public accounting firms that have been historically bad at auditing, like Grant […]
Promotion Watch ’21: BDO Admits 20 New Partners In the U.K.
These 17 men and three women got golden tickets from BDO U.K. Managing Partner Paul Eagland on Jan. 1: Spencer Ashworth, Audit Vinesh Bharadwa, Tax Jamie Carter, Business Outsourcing Lee Coccaro, Tax Ben Courts, Audit Paul Dawson, Business Outsourcing Rob di Santo, Audit Graham Ellis, Audit Martin Haines, Tax Tom Laird, Audit Conor Lambert, Transaction […]
Koltin Consulting Group CEO Is Really Overhyping This BDO USA/MBAF Merger
Getting two public accounting firms that are among the top 100 largest in the U.S. in terms of revenue to tie the knot is harder than it used to be. But it actually happened twice in the latter half of 2020: CliftonLarsonAllen and Blumshapiro made a deal happen in late December and before that in […]
Number of the Day: £518,000
That is the average profit per partner before tax at BDO U.K. in the 2020 financial year that ended June 30, down 14% from the £602,000 in profits each partner took home the previous year, according to the Financial Times and The Telegraph. Overall, the Queen’s BDO had revenue of £660 million for 2020, up […]
BDO Had a Pretty Decent FY 2020 Globally
While 2020 has been horrible and stressful for pretty much everyone and everything, BDO actually had its best year on record, revenue-wise. Those who know, know BDO hit the $10 billion mark in global revenue for the very first time, topping out at $10.3 billion for the financial year that ended Sept. 30. That’s about […]
BDO Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Parts III and IV
BDO of the Australian variety recently snagged a couple of partners from the Green Dot. First, former BDO audit partner John Bresolin got his old job back following a two-year stint as a partner at Deloitte in Sydney. BDO Sydney Managing Partner Grant Saxon said Bresolin started his career with BDO as a cadet in […]
BDO Puerto Rico Tax Partner Accused of Trying (and Failing) to Defraud the IRS
More accountants behaving badly at BDO Puerto Rico. First it was good ol’ Fernando Scherrer, the BDO Puerto Rico managing partner who got indicted for taking part in a shady corruption scandal last year that also involved Puerto Rico’s former education secretary and the former head of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration. Now, the […]
Wayne Berson Admits He Is Driving Some People Crazy at BDO USA
In a wide-ranging interview with CJ Prince of Chief Executive magazine, BDO USA CEO Wayne Berson used “BDO” and “powerhouse” in the same sentence, said “no one wants to go to the 5th best firm” (you got dissed, RSM US) but “we don’t see ourselves as inferior to the Big Four,” and explained what CLIMB means […]
BDO USA Employees Are Getting Their Moolah Back
Late on Friday a couple people told us about some good news for BDOers, especially for those not getting raises this year. Not sure about Audit and other Departments but BDO just announced they would be paying back the salary that was reduced in May – July with the Dec. 15 paycheck. And from the […]
LOL, Big 4: BDO Now Has the Most Audit Clients In the U.K.
There is no other accounting firm in the U.K. that wants its name mentioned with the Big 4 more than BDO. That firm is like your 7-year-old brother who wants to play street hockey with you and your high school friends after school because he wants to be around and thinks he can compete with […]
Comp Rumor of the Day: Some BDO USA Auditors Are Getting Raises, Some Are Not
[Updated with additional information.] While I was on staycation last week, this came through the tipline: BDO audit will be giving raises of 2% on average on 11/1. Some employees will receive nothing, some less than 2%, and some more than 2%. We haven’t heard anything yet about possible raises at Bravo Delta Oscar for […]
BDO USA Reports $1.8 Billion in FY 2020 Revenue, Wants Everyone to Know It Is the Most Resilient Firm Ever
The Little Dipper of accounting firms, BDO USA, announced today that its FY 2020 revenue increased 11.3% (I calculated 9.8%, but whatever) to $1.8 billion, up from $1.64 billion last fiscal year. That all looks great on paper, especially during this year of our COVID Lord 2020, but like RSM US, which also reported a […]
BDO USA Staff Are Back to Getting Their Pre-Rona Paychecks
It feels like it’s been four years, not four months, since BDO USA told employees their paychecks would be a little bit lighter for a while as the firm began to navigate the rough waters caused by everyone’s favorite pandemic. But that 5% to 10% pay cut BDO staff had to endure from May 1 […]
BDO U.K.’s Audit Quality Is In the Same Class with Rivals PwC and KPMG
Next up in our review of the most recent Financial Reporting Council audit quality inspection reports are the top midtier accounting firms, or as the U.K. calls them, the “challenger firms” to the Big 4. Let’s start with the firm that’s closest to the Big 4 in terms of revenue—BDO. Bravo Delta Oscar recently got […]
BDO U.K. Finally Loses Its Virginity to the Financial Reporting Council
Congrats to BDO for getting its first-ever fine from the U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council for committing an auditing boner. Now BDO can say it finally has something in common with the Big 4. The Financial Times reported today: Accountancy firm BDO has received its first UK audit fine from the industry’s regulator for rule breaches […]
Layoff Watch ’20: BDO USA Waved Goodbye to Some Folks In Advisory
This came in through the tipline about an hour or so ago: BDO Advisory US had a RIF yesterday… about 3% of workforce… low performers but also told it was due to economic conditions… guess the comp reduction didn’t “keep our family together.” So the email I got yesterday from a person saying (s)he was […]
Layoff Watch ’20: At Least One BDO Canada Office Is Downsizing Its Headcount
[Updated on July 10 with additional information.] Unfortunately we are hearing more news of Canadian accounting professionals losing their jobs. Although we haven’t been able to confirm yet if there have been firm-wide job cuts at BDO Canada, we were told by a source at BDO in Vancouver on July 9 that several people at […]
Comp Watch ’20: BDO USA Is Restoring Everyone’s Pay—But Promotions and Raises Will Have to Wait
Hope everyone had a good weekend celebrating the ol’ red, white, and blue. Speaking of red, white, and blue, the firm that sports these colors, BDO USA, is ending pay cuts effective Aug. 1, according to sources. You gotta hand it to BDO thus far. The firm cut employee pay 5% to 10% in early […]
BDO USA Auditors Are Still Riding On the Struggle Bus, Latest PCAOB Inspection Report Reveals
People who know, know BDO USA has had some of the suckiest audit inspection reports recently among the firms that are annually inspected by the PCAOB. From 2012 to 2017, an average of 59% of BDO audits inspected by the PCAOB had significant errors. Yeesh. Things were sorta looking better when the PCAOB released BDO’s […]
BDO Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part II
People who know, know BDO … just L-O-V-E-S poaching the Big 4, especially in Canada. It makes Bravo Delta Oscar feel all puffy-chested. Lately, Deloitte Canada has been a partner training ground for future BDOers, as weird as that sounds. In early March, Erica McCurdy joined BDO as a partner after a 10-year career at […]
BDO Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts II and III
With all this bad stuff like layoffs and pay cuts and furloughs going on in public accounting, it warms the cockles of my heart that there’s still a little competitive poaching going on. We have to go to Australia to find some, but like I tell my kids: You get what you get and you […]
BDO USA Is Cutting Everyone’s Pay to Stave Off Layoffs
[Updated with additional information.] Just got this from the tipline: [BDO USA CEO] Wayne Berson just announced we were taking a 5-10% paycut at all levels (salaried) from May 1st-August 1st (St Louis is the one exception, they’re starting May 16). Hourly is the same, just starting one or two days later after the salaried […]
BDO Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part I
So around 12:30 this morning, as I checked BDO Canada’s website for any kind of update on the BDO employee in Toronto who has COVID-19, I noticed that the firm recently hired a new assurance partner for its office in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her name is Erica McCurdy, and she left Deloitte Canada to join […]
BDO Employee In Canada Infected with Coronavirus
BDO is the first non-Big 4 firm that we know of that reportedly has an employee in Toronto who tested positive for COVID-19. Here’s what Global News in Canada reported on March 10: Global News has obtained a memo sent to workers at BDO Canada on Wellington Street East in Toronto advising them that a […]
BDO Canada Took a Page Out of BDO USA’s Playbook of Bad Auditing
We’ve had some fun over the years picking on BDO USA for its auditing imperfections, from blowing the 2009 audit of General Employment Enterprises Inc. to three former BDO accountants getting into trouble for misdeeds made in the 2013 audit of AmTrust Financial Services Inc. to god-awful PCAOB audit inspection reports. How horrible have BDO’s […]
BDO’s World Domination Tour Makes Its Next Stop: Baltimore
Cookies will be served. Why Baltimore? Maybe because BDO USA CEO Wayne Berson is a big fan of Under Armour apparel? Or maybe because he’s binge-watching all five seasons of The Wire on HBO Now? Nah, it’s because BDO just bought a Baltimore-area investment and tax advisory firm. Baltimore Business Journal reported: Chicago-based BDO completed […]
BDO Knows You Just Wasted One Minute of Your Life Watching Its Latest Holiday Video Card
I just did. Thanks for nothing, BDO. It might not be the lamest accounting firm holiday video card we’ve seen, but it ranks right up there.
PwC and BDO Hong Kong Affiliates Got Their Hands Slapped by the PCAOB
As we begin to take a look back at the year that was 2019, one of the weird things public accounting firms were disciplined for this year by the PCAOB was for not disclosing that they’ve been the focus of a non-PCAOB disciplinary hearing. According to PCAOB Rule 2203, if a firm is a defendant […]
BDO Is the Little Dipper of Accounting Firms
While we patiently wait for KPMG’s 2019 global revenue results to be released sometime within the next week, BDO slid into our inboxes today announcing that its global revenue hit $9.6 billion in 2019, up from $9 billion last year. One of the keys to BDO’s growth is all the shopping the firm has done […]
RKL Poaches Someone From BDO and Issues a Press Release, Part I
When the 61st ranked accounting firm in the nation steals someone away from a firm like BDO, it’s kinda newsworthy. Well, newsworthy enough for a slow Wednesday late afternoon in early December. And newsworthy enough for RKL that it warranted a press release: RKL LLP announced that Michael T. McAllister, CPA, CITP, CISA, has joined […]
There Will Be Two Fewer Drunk People at BDO U.K.’s Holiday Party This Year
Not looking to be the next EY, BDO U.K. is taking steps this year to ensure female staff can enjoy themselves at firm holiday parties without worrying about getting groped by randy colleagues. How? By suggesting a pair of squares stay sober to monitor the festivities. In an internal memo obtained by The Financial Times, […]
Hiring Watch ’19: BDO Nashville Wants You and Some of Your Friends
It looks like EY isn’t the only firm going on a hiring spree in Nashville. BDO is getting some new digs and will be needing some new capital market servants. The Nashville Post reported: Fifth + Broadway developer Brookfield Properties on Tuesday announced professional services firm BDO USA will take space in the multi-building development’s […]
Promotion Watch ’19: BDO Admits 48 New Partners
Wayne Berson is letting 48 lucky guys and gals join the club, in what is one of the largest new partner classes in BDO USA’s history. Says Wayne-o: “We are proud to welcome the largest class of partners at BDO in more than 20 years,” said Wayne Berson, CEO of BDO USA. “Each of our […]
Those Who Know, Know BDO CEO Wayne Berson Is Back for Another Term
You’d be smiling too if you were Wayne Berson. Wow, what a day at Bravo Delta Oscar! Not only did BDO USA announce that supreme leader and ex-cricket player Wayne Berson was re-elected by partners to a third term as CEO, but the firm achieved another record-setting year of revenue, topping out at $1.64 billion […]
House Dems Want BDO Puerto Rico to Stop Shredding Documents Already
When a document shredding truck pulls up to an accounting firm whose former managing partner was just indicted for his role, and that firm’s role, in a massive corruption scandal in Puerto Rico, it’s going to raise some eyebrows. And those eyebrows belong to U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY). Velázquez, a […]
Recruits Will Get to Virtually See Why They’d Be ‘Mad As a Hatter’ to Work at BDO
From Consultancy.uk: BDO has announced it has joined the workplace gaming scene. It is attempting to attract top new talent with an Alice in Wonderland-themed game which tests potential recruits’ abilities in problem-solving and assessing cause and effect. As reported by the Telegraph, the games will see recruits try to find a key in a specialist […]
All Fat Guys Can Relate to Ex-BDO Puerto Rico Managing Partner Trying to Put On a Belt
Here’s a question to all my fellow overweight brethren: Is there anything worse than trying to put on a belt while wearing a dress shirt? If you’re like me, after you tuck in the shirt, you poof it out in the front, back, and sides so it doesn’t cling to your stomach and love handles, […]
BDO Puerto Rico Managing Partner Resigns After Indictment In Massive Corruption Scandal
The words “managing partner” and “corruption” used in the same sentence is never a good thing, as we found out in the KPMG/PCAOB information leak scandal. But while there was no scheme to steal confidential information from an audit regulator going on in Puerto Rico, there were allegations of money laundering, theft, and wire fraud […]
Let’s Give a Big Hand to BDO For Not Having the Worst 2017 PCAOB Inspection Report
The PCAOB released the 2017 inspection report for BDO USA at the end of June, and while the firm should still hang its collective heads in shame for there being deficiencies found in nine of the 23 audits inspected in 2016, for a 39% failure rate, there are a few positive things that Bravo Delta […]
Man Who Was Arrested For Repeatedly Stabbing a Hiker Near Los Angeles Apparently Works at BDO
We got a tip the other day that said an employee of one of the top accounting firms in the U.S. got into some trouble with the law last week: Look into the stabbing from Altedena on May 29th. The alleged suspect, Kristopher Brown works as a Senior for BDO Los Angeles. He’s currently in […]
Auditor Swap: AZZ Says Buh-Bye to BDO USA, Hires Grant Thornton
Auditor shopping has made the news a little more than usual of late, with high-profile companies like Fitbit and Goldman Sachs in the U.K. both kicking PwC to the curb in favor of a fresh, new set of eyes. Then there’s General Electric, which might end its century-old relationship with KPMG after this year. While […]
BDO Is Officially the Fifth-Largest Accounting Firm In the U.K.
Step aside, Grant Thornton. BDO’s merger with Moore Stephens has been completed, making Bravo Delta Oscar the largest non-Big 4 accounting firm in the U.K. From Economia: The merger gives [BDO] a combined workforce of 5,000 staff members and 350 partners working in 17 locations across the UK. The firm is expected to deliver revenues […]
BDO’s Global Revenue Hit $9 Billion Mark in 2018
We could have been dicks and not rounded $8.99 billion up to $9 billion, but we decided to be nice. From BDO worldwide headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 11: BDO, one of the world’s leading global networks of independent public accounting firms, has announced that worldwide revenue for all BDO Member Firms (including the exclusive members […]
Apparently BDO and Moore Stephens Are Gonna Hook Up
The days of Grant Thornton being the fifth-largest accounting firm in the United Kingdom appear to be numbered, as Moore Stephens, a top 10 firm in the U.K., is reportedly getting into bed with BDO, the sixth-largest U.K. firm. The Times in London wrote yesterday: BDO, the accountancy and business advisory firm, has confirmed that […]
Three Ex-BDO USA Accountants Will Be Sitting on the Sidelines For a While Due to Really Bad Auditing Decisions
Coming off the heels of a horrible Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspection report, in which 16 of 24 audits inspected in 2016 were found to have deficiencies, BDO USA is again in the news for all the wrong reasons. Three former BDO accountants were suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 12 […]
Those Who Know, Know BDO … Sucks at Auditing
So, the latest PCAOB inspection report of BDO USA is out, and man, it’s bad. You know it’s bad when even KPMG can do better. Well, at least according to the most recent available report, we’re still waiting on the suspiciously absent 2016 KPMG PCAOB inspection report. Anyhoo, back to BDO. They’re no strangers to […]
A 4.2% Increase in Revenue Must Give BDO USA All the Happy Feels
Nearly two months after announcing that 37 new partners would be joining the firm, BDO USA put the word out that its revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018, grew by 4.2% over the previous year. BDO USA’s self-reported revenue of $1.47 billion, which was announced on July 31, exceeds last year’s revenue […]
BDO USA Admits 37 New Partners
Caleb sure picked a bad time to start a new job. New partner announcement season was one of his most favorite times of the year. I’m sure he’s celebrating the start of this season from afar. Today, BDO USA announced that 37 new partners will be admitted to the partnership, effective July 1. The 2018 […]
Foreign Affiliates of Big Audit Firms Screwed Up Some Stuff
The Securities and Exchange Commission fined foreign affiliates of BDO, Deloitte, and KPMG for skirting oversight of the PCAOB. Here’s the skinny: According to the SEC’s orders, the Zimbabwe affiliates of Deloitte & Touche and KPMG improperly audited the majority of assets and revenues of a publicly traded company without registering with the PCAOB. The […]
Here’s Your Open Thread for BDO Compensation Discussions (2017)
We’ve had a couple of requests for the BDO compensation thread, and the calendar is right, so we’re happy to oblige. One tipster that works in advisory told us “I just received an email from the partner saying to stop by his office” but added, “I don’t expect anything significant.” BDO hasn’t released its revenue […]
BDO Admits 36 New Partners
Congratulations to the 36 very good boys and girls who can count themselves among the flock of BDO’s chosen ones. Okay, maybe that’s a touch extravagant for a BDO partner, but that does not diminish the achievement. This year’s class is a smidgen smaller compared to last year’s 39, but it’s still a large class […]
Here’s Some BDO Partners Getting Pied in the Face
As far as good ol’ fashioned comedy bits go, a pie to the face still holds up well. It won’t get the biggest laugh, but it sure is satisfying to watch. Someone at BDO knew this and put it to work by incorporating it into their campaign to raise donations for National Red Nose Day. […]
BDO Auditor Had Starring Role in ‘The Spy Who Bought Me Coffee’
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that BDO is at the center of a messy situation with one of its clients, thanks to a super slick auditor on the inside cruising the firm’s halls: The auditor at BDO USA LLP casually wandered around the accounting firm’s New York offices, striking up conversations with colleagues about […]
Here’s Your Open Thread for BDO Compensation Discussions (2016)
BDO is a firm on a roll. Just last week they announced a third straight year of 20%+ growth in revenue to $1.29 billion. They admitted 39 new partners this year, the largest class since we began covering those promotions. They're snapping up firms left and right. Yep, everybody sounds pretty happy. Oh, who am […]
BDO Admits 39 New Partners
Oh look, we have more new partner news. BDO actually made this announcement a few weeks ago, but no matter, the new partners officially got their stripes on July 1. The 2016 class of 39 marks the seventh straight year of growth. There were 30 new partners in 2015, 24 in 2014, 16 in '13, […]
Wayne Berson Gets Four More Years as BDO CEO
BDO partners seem to like Wayne Berson well enough to let him keep his job a while longer: BDO USA, LLP, one of the nation’s leading professional service organizations, today announced that the firm’s partnership has re-elected Wayne Berson to a second four-year term as chief executive officer, effective November 1, 2016. During the first […]
BDO Shouldn’t Have Blown This Audit
This SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Order against BDO will be the best thing you read today. That is, if you enjoy reading about audit firms issuing an unqualified opinion when they absolutely had no business issuing an unqualified opinion. That is the case with the story of BDO's 2009 audit of General Employment Enterprises, […]
Here’s Your Open Thread for BDO Compensation Discussions (2015)
The accounting firm known as BDO is having a good 2015. It recently admitted 30 new partners, the largest class since GC's been covering the promotions. Revenues eclipsed the billion-dollar mark back in May, thanks to its insatiable hunger for boutique firms. Oh, and it keeps stickin' ex-CEO Denis Field with those massive legal bills. […]
BDO Admits 30 New Partners
Effective July 1, 30 new partners will get a seat at BDO's adult table. This class is the largest since we've been covering the firm's partner promotions. There were 24 in 2014, 16 in '13, 15 in '12, 13 in '11, and 5 in '10. I count 7 women on this list and, oddly, everyone […]
Ex-BDO CEO’s Quest to Get Firm to Pony Up for His Legal Bills Not Going So Well
Former BDO CEO and Wolfpack leader Denis Field received some bad news in his quest to get BDO to pay his hefty legal bills: A panel unanimously affirmed rulings by Justices Saliann Scarpulla and Barbara Kapnick in Matter of Denis M. Field v. BDO USA, 600010/12, refusing to grant motions by Denis Field, former CEO of […]
BDO Should Be Thanking Its Lucky Stars That Swisher Hygiene Fired Them
BDO, an audit firm, had a difference of opinion with Swisher Hygiene, Inc., a client, about the company's internal controls over financial reporting. Specifically, BDO identified 12 material weaknesses and 5 significant deficiencies. Contrast that with Swisher's analysis that found no material weaknesses and 1 significant deficiency. Also! BDO's audit opinion for for 2014 contained a going […]
BDO Excited to Join Billion-Dollar Firm Club
Hungry Hungry Hippo BDO is still gobbling up accounting firms. Its latest morsel is St. Louis-based Stone Carlie & Company and it will push Bravo Delta Oscar's revenues over $1 billion, according to CEO Wayne Berson: Stone Carlie earns between $13 million and $14 million in annual revenue. BDO ranked 7th on Accounting Today’s 2015 […]
Ex-BDO Chairman Not About to Let His Former Firm Stick Him With Huge Legal Bills and Get Away With It
We thought we heard the last from former BDO chairman Denis Field when one "Jayne Field" emailed us demanding we "close the circle here" and report on the fact that Denis' 2011 conviction on conspiracy and tax-evasion charges was overturned in court at the end of 2013. In the interest of clearning his good name, […]
Here’s The Real Reason Mid-Tier Firms Are Merger Mad
As we know, BDO and McGladrey have both been on a very busy acquisition streak lately. BDO picked up one of Ohio's biggest firms with SS&G and then grabbed UHY's Texas practice. McGladrey, meanwhile, gobbled up sub 100 firm Cole + Reed out of Oklahoma. We're talking apples and oranges when it comes to size, […]
BDO Fixin’ to Acquire UHY Texas
Following up its purchase of Ohio's SS&G, BDO announced today that it had reached agreement with UHY Advisors to execute….err…acquire its Texas Practice: The UHY Texas practice provides a broad range of financial and consulting services to a diversified client base with significant strength in the energy, manufacturing, distribution, professional services, healthcare and real estate […]
Accounting Firm M&A Rumor Mill: Will BDO Acquire UHY Next?
It had been a while since we've heard a good M&A rumor so we were excited to get a tip last week about BDO acquiring UHY. Just this week, we've received another tip from a reliable source that BDO would be announcing its acquisition of UHY "very soon." Then, unexpectedly, this morning we learned that […]
Charlie Munger: EY Can’t Tell Its Ass From a Hole in the Ground
Back in June, Warren Buffett's BFF Charlie Munger canned EY, who were happily auditing his Daily Journal Corp, in favor of BDO. Now, we're sure this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that EY expressed an adverse opinion on DJCO's internal controls when last these two ships passed in the night. And it […]
Which Big 4 Firm Audits the Most Large Accelerated Filers?
This is a question you've probably never asked yourself but now that you're here, you're dying to know. Our friends over at Audit Analytics broke it down and figured out not only which of the Big 4 audits the most large accelerated and accelerated filers but also how many of those filers are audited by […]
Here’s Your Open Thread for BDO Compensation Discussions (2014)
Well, folks, it appears BDO pulled a fast one on us and changed up the game by coming out with compensation way ahead of schedule (for BDO, anyway). Numbers have been known to come out as late as September in the past, which meant we totally ignored this person who wrote us at the end […]
BDO Boasts Massive Revenue Growth in Fiscal 2014
Of course, there is an accompanying press release to go with the good news: BDO USA, LLP, one of the nation's leading professional service organizations, today announced revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014 was $833 million, a 22 percent increase from last year’s revenue of $683 million. The firm's growth was achieved […]
Grant Thornton Picks Up a New Client in the Interest of Penny-Pinching
Perma-Fix Environmental Services, a "global provider of safe, compliant, and environmentally responsible nuclear services and radioactive waste management solutions," has swapped auditors, and gives quite the compelling reason for it in their 8-K filed with the SEC: On June 25, 2014, the Audit Committee of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (the “Company”) approved the dismissal of […]
BDO Gets SALTy with Latest Acquisition
BDO today announced an expansion of its state and local tax practice (SALT) through the addition of 1 partner and 10 employees formerly with HoganTaylor, LLP. Tom Smith, who will be joining BDO as a partner, will serve as the SALT Practice Leader for the firm's Southwest region. These new resources – effective July 1 […]
Ex-BDO Vice Chairman Given 16 Months to Think About His Choices
Let this be a lesson to anyone considering joining up with a "rogue group" of tax-sheltering jerks at your firm, you've been warned: Former BDO Seidman LLP Vice Chairman Charles Bee’s cooperation with prosecutors in a $1 billion tax fraud probe didn’t spare him from prison, as a judge, citing the magnitude of the crime, […]
Promotion Watch ’14: BDO Admits 24 New Partners
This just in from the BDO camp, 24 new partners have been admitted to the partnership effective July 1st; seventeen in assurance, six in tax and one from the national office. “I want to welcome each of these highly accomplished individuals to the BDO USA partnership,” said Wayne Berson, CEO of BDO USA. “As a […]