“In the recently-released 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index, New Jersey finally moved out of its last-place ranking on that list, in part due to Christie’s veto of the millionaires’ tax he mentioned during his interview. While it still ranks a pretty dismal 48 out of 50, it proves that improvement is possible, even in a state with a tax policy legacy as historically abysmal as New Jersey’s.” [Tax Foundation]
Category:
Keyshawn Johnson Successfully Withstands the Fox Business Tax Policy Rhetoric
Dare we say, Keyshawn is being pragmatic here?
A few favorite moments:
Keyshawn: That’s what I’m being told. I don’t know any better. [Every Fox employee is laughing hysterically]
Charles Payne: If there was only 30% of what you made there. When do you say, “You know what? Who’s the Republican running for office?”
Keyshawn: Let’s not always make it about money. [If you listen carefully you can hear Charles Payne soiling himself.]
Payne: Even the guy that is 3rd string?
Keyshawn: Some of those New York Jets guys, as we know, are that responsible when they drink? [Sanchez?]
Any other takeaways? Discuss.
[via TaxProf]
There’s Still Some Confusion About the BDO/Grant Thornton Situation in Hong Kong
The Wall St. Journal’s China Real Time Report stumbled upon the BDO/Grant Thornton poaching exodus merger situation (some may say, “clusterfuck”) in Hong Kong and we have no choice but to take issue with it.
The headline reads, “Missed It? Hong Kong’s Big Accounting Merger” and they mention the original report from the South China Morning Post. They manage to tone down the narrative but more or less tell the same story, full with quotes from BDO Hong Kong’s CEO Albert Au Siu-cheung:
On Wednesday, about a month after the joint press release, the South China Morning Post featured a front-page article describing the merger as a mass poaching of staff by BDO, “the biggest such raid in the city’s accounting sector.”
“It’s a bit sensational,” Au said, adding there was no raid. “Poaching is I pick a few heads here and there,” he said. “What you’re seeing here is the whole firm, meaning the partners and staff, coming to join us in BDO.”
In other words, “Sure it sounded bad but really it was just people making a choice”:
“There is no goodwill payment of any kind,” Au said. “I like to think they are voting with their feet. By that, I mean they think they’re joining a platform they have commitment to and believe in.” Clients were informed of the change and had the option to find another accounting firm. All clients have stayed with Grant Thornton for this merger.
Of course if someone at the Journal had rang up Grant Thornton International they would have likely gotten the story that we reported on last Friday which is that GTI booted the affiliate firm in Hong Kong and that BDO is kinda, sorta misrepresenting the situation:
They did not choose to leave, they were told to leave…[I]t is disingenous, or possibly wishful thinking, on the part of BDO to suggest that Grant Thornton is pulling out of Hong Kong. Many partners and staff from the former Hong Kong firm have already contacted the new Grant Thornton firm and clients will, of course, decide for themselves whether to move to BDO, which operates in the region as a loose affiliation, or remain with the more integrated, ‘one firm’ approach of Grant Thornton.
And of course there are the opposing press releases. The joint one issued by the BDO/GT firm dated October 7th that states:
Leading accounting firms BDO and Grant Thornton are pleased to announce that their firms have agreed in principle to merge their businesses and practise in the name of BDO Limited.
And the one from GTI, also dated October 7th that states something quite different:
Grant Thornton International gave its Hong Kong member firm notice on 20 September to leave the global organisation by March 2011.
With that mandate and probably few options, it appears that GTHK ran into the arms of BDOHK. BDO is using the Journal to disseminate a story that makes them look proactive and ambitious when in reality, none of this would even be happening if GTI hadn’t told their HK firm to get lost. The Journal – like the South China Morning Post – doesn’t mention that. Some people might consider that a major piece of the story.
We’ve put out a warning in the past about wandering into our corner of the sandbox without knowing what the hell you’re doing (or at least checking with us first) and you can consider this a friendly reminder about that. We’re more than happy to help because this accounting/accounting firm stuff is tricky when you don’t spend every single day reading and writing about it.
If Only Clippy Was Here to See This: Microsoft Office Moves to the Cloud
The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight — everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.
Microsoft is beta testing a new subscription-based product called Office 3 following applications: Microsoft Office Professional Plus (Microsoft’s flagship productivity suite, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other applications); Microsoft Exchange Online (e-mail, mobile access, contacts, anti-virus, and anti-spam); Microsoft Sharepoint Online (collaboration tool for building public or team-based Web sites); and Microsoft Lync Online (an instant messaging and online meeting tool).
In 2011, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will join the above offerings. This is not Microsoft’s first foray into Cloud-based apps. Anyone with a free SkyDrive account can use the Office Web Apps (browser-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and store up to 25 GB of documents online. Further, Microsoft has been offering subscription plans for the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite that has offered a similar mix of communication products sans Microsoft Office.
Anyone interested can sign up for the beta of either the Small Business or Enterprise versions of the program. Those who are accepted into the beta program receive the desktop version of Office 2010 Professional Plus, along with online access to Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync. Once Office 365 leaves beta, the service should be of particular interest to small business owners.
Exchange and SharePoint typically require dedicated servers, which in turn require specialized information technology expertise. These cloud-based versions will enable just about any business to take advantage of these powerful applications for e-mail, group calendaring, and collaboration.
The Small Business plan will cost $6/user/month for 1 to 25 users and will include:
• Office Web Apps
• Exchange Online, including 25 GB mailboxes, and the ability to send 25 MB attachments
• SharePoint Online
• Lync Online
• Support provided via a moderated community forum
The Enterprise plan will cost $24/user/month and will include:
• Office Professional desktop software
• Office Web Apps
• Exchange Online, including 25 GB mailboxes, and the ability to send 25 MB attachments
• Sharepoint Online, including Forms, Access, Visio, and Excel services
• Lync Online
• 24/7 IT-level phone support
• Financially-backed 99.9% uptime service, or, in other words, downtime of less than 9 hours per year
Larger businesses also will be able to subscribe to a kiosk plan that starts at $2/user/month to offer e-mail, SharePoint sites, and Office Web Apps to workers without dedicated computers. An Office 365 for education will be available in the future to help educational institutions provide services to students without maintaining servers.
Many businesses aren’t yet comfortable with having mission-critical applications and data residing in the Cloud, but this combination of low cost and high flexibility might cause skeptics to pause and consider the possibilities.
About the author:
David Ringstrom, CPA, heads up Accounting Advisors, Inc., an Atlanta-based software and database consulting firm. Contact David at david@acctadv.com.
What’s With All the Hating on Rothstein Kass?
Welcome to the post-marathon Monday edition of Accounting Career Couch. Today, an experienced industry accountant is looking to go jump into public and has an interview with Rothstein Kass’s Family Office group. Unfortunately, he has heard horror stories about R to the K’s financial services division and wants to know if it’s contagious to the rest of the firm.
Having problems at work and need a sage’s advice? Curious if using a sick day for your missing toenails is ethical? In a bit of trouble with the law and need an excuse that makes your better half look like a lunatic? ”mailto:advice@goingconcern.com”>advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll put your mind (or feet) at ease.
Back to our potential Kass Kounter:
My question is if you’ve received any recent news about Rothstein Kass lately. I’m up for an interview in their Family Office group as an entry level tax staff, but let’s face it – they haven’t had the best things said about them over their other divisions. Fortunately I’ve heard nothing about the FO group; everything sad/horrible/depressing has been about their FS division, for the most part.
I want to make sure I do my due diligence of this firm, first. A few years ago I was offered to start my career in accounting there under a summer internship in their audit group, but I turned it down for corporate opportunities instead. Now as I want to make the jump into public for the first time, I’m naturally looking back at RKCO…
Any idea as to why everyone seems to have only negative things to say about them? Whiners are always the loudest, I’m aware, but it does concern me a little that there’s so much taint over this firm’s internal reputation on the interwebs…
To directly answer the question, the most recent news we’ve received about Rothstein Kass was related to their ubiquity on the Vault rankings including landing at the #3 spot on their featured ranking.
Prior to the rankings, we reported on a few pre-Labor Day layoffs that occurred at the firm and the admission of new partners to the firm for 2010.
In the layoffs post, our tipster mentioned the following:
FS practice is getting demolished in NY and NJ appears to be getting more antsy with every move that management makes.
Not many details on “demolished,” as you can see but someone thought enough havoc was going down to contact us. However, another source told us that the context of the tip was not accurate and that things within the firm were fine. What other Kass Kounters actually think is unknown because the post had a grand total of zero comments and RK declined to comment for our article.
So, the long/short of it is – RK has a very good reputation by virtue of their lofty perch among the Vault Rankings but it appears the reputation in some corners of “the interwebs” might be “tainted” as you say. We haven’t seen any of this tainting first-hand so we don’t know why RK is getting a bad rap.
To help you with your particular dilemma – if you were interviewing with Deloitte or PwC (the only two firms that ranked above RK on Vault’s list) would you be concerned about what was said about them on the web? If your answer is no, then you should have the same attitude about Rothstein. If you answer is yes, then you’ll never get a job anywhere, ever.
People in the know are invited to enlighten everyone below. If you’d rather communicate with us directly, email us at tips@goingconcern.com.
Accountant Addicted to Love Has Been Located; First Date To Be Determined
It was just last week that Victor the Spartan was on the hunt for Lauren, an accountant addicted to love (presumably in the Robert Palmer sense).
The picture at right represented Victor’s preferred method of stalking tracking down Lauren.
And despite the odds and the skeptics, the Spartan has reported that the hunt was a success:
Found her! We have not had a chance to get together but I am excited for it to happen. You always have to try if you want something. I’m glad i did.
Now, we’d like to think we were partially responsible for this happening but there’s no indication that is the case. Anyway, best of luck and all that. We’re sure this just the beginning of a great love story that will become a best seller – “Accountants like double entry” – or something.
“Doing It Wrong” Twitter Case Study: The Over-Excited Newbie
Continuing with our series on how not to behave in social media that looks at what certain accounts do wrong without actually naming names, we thought we’d take a quick look at a Twitter user that should be all too familiar to most of you. Heck, you may even be this Twitter user, go ahead and stop me if you feel like you’re looking in a mirror.
The over-excited newbie thinks hashtags are great. So great, in fact, that he or she feels compelled to put them in every tweet. This is normal since we’ve seen this sort of behavior in accounting firms as well and they allegedly have media teams to run social media for them. We’re here to tell you for the last time to settle down and reserve hashtags for pre-determined conversations (like a chat that is easily tracked using a hashtag) or selective topics of conversation but not the entire conversation for the love of sweet baby Google.
The over-excited newbie also makes the mistake of jumping in head first without watching how others handle themselves in the arena. With hundreds – if not thousands – of well-established, accounting-related Twitter feeds already in the wild, it doesn’t make sense not to look to them to learn a thing or two about how the natives operate.
Lists like Michelle Golden’s “Accounting Awesomeness” can give you a direct line to some of accounting’s best, try following them for hints on how to behave before attempting to go out into the scary world of Twitter all by yourself. No one is implying that you should get all cookie-cutter on us but there is something to be said for sticking to the script, especially if you have absolutely no idea what you are doing.
The over-excited newbie tends to have trouble differentiating between streaming consciousness and appropriately answering the question “What’s happening?”, often dropping the most mundane details about what the yardboy wore while raking leaves and mistakenly letting threats towards co-workers seep out.
Signs you may be an over-excited newbie? Comments like “I am going to slit my senior’s throat if he doesn’t start doing some of this work” or “My boss is a fucking moron for giving me a raise after all these months of me showing up late every day” are dead giveaways.
Remember: everyone can see what you are doing on Twitter, even if your stream is “private.” That means vindictive colleagues, obnoxious clients and seniors who don’t appreciate being called raging douchenozzles in front of the entire Internet during an engagement.
So if you are the over-excited newbie, don’t worry, there’s hope for you yet. Try refraining from doing much more tweeting until you understand how Twitter works. For starters, stick to being a casual observer. No one is saying you can’t be opinionated or use the tools, however, you might choose. We have to remember our industry and keep in mind that as protectors of the public we have an obligation to conduct ourselves in a certain way.
Think of Twitter self-censoring like a privacy screen, it’ll keep all your nastiness to yourself. Exactly where it belongs.
Accounting News Roundup: Short-term Compromise on Estate Tax Possible; Where Do Big 4 Political Contributions Go?; Shrinks for CFOs | 11.08.10
Battles Loom Over Tax Breaks, Spending Cuts [WSJ]
House GOP Whip Eric Cantor and other lawmakers suggested that Republicans in the coming lame-duck session would press for a long-term extension of current tax levels for all earners, despite Democratic opposition. The Bush-era tax cuts expire Jan. 1 unless Congress acts before then.
“I am not for sending any signal to small businesses in this country that they’re going to have their tax rates go up,” Mr. Cantor said on “Fox News Sunday.” Republicans say raising tax rates on higher earners would hit about half of all small-business income. Democrats say that figure is infla sinesses that are structured as small businesses.
Can a Republican House Stop Farm Subsidy Nonsense? Yeah Right [JDA]
Archer Daniels Midland. Have we mentioned how they’re part of the problem? Adrienne reminds us.
Put Your Money Where Your Money Is: The Auditors and the US Midterm Elections [Re: The Auditors]
Francine McKenna goes with the hockey metaphor, “The audit firms put their money more often where the puck is rather than where it’s going and hardly ever chase the puck for strictly ideological reasons.”
Is Internal Audit Meeting the Challenge? Perhaps Not! [Marks on Governance/IIA]
Or, perhaps yes?
Business Groups Back Quick Compromise On Estate Tax [Dow Jones]
Business groups that oppose the federal estate tax say they are willing to back a short-term compromise with congressional Democrats, in order to avoid the tax returning to its highest level in 10 years.
However, Republicans in Congress aren’t ready to back down from their demands for an estate tax rate of 35%, setting up one of the more unpredictable tax battles in Congress’s lame-duck session.
Bloomberg to America: Lay Off The Chinese [Metropolis/WSJ]
“If you look at the U.S., you look at who we’re electing to Congress, to the Senate—they can’t read,” [Hizzoner] said. “I’ll bet you a bunch of these people don’t have passports. We’re about to start a trade war with China if we’re not careful here,” he warned, “only because nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is.”
How Would CFOs Fare on the Couch? [CFO]
“The upside of people who are CFOs is that they’re generally effective communicators, deliberate, prudent. They weigh alternatives, they’re stabilizing, objective, rational, analytical,” says [Dr. Barrie Sanford] Greiff. “But for every upside, when you turn up the intensity, you can find these descriptions, too: overcautious, overanalytic, very controlling, and lacking in a certain degree of flexibility.”
UGA accounting school receives $1 million [AJC]
Thanks, Ernst & Young.
The World’s Most Powerful People [Forbes]
Behind every powerful person is an accountant that is sick of putting up with his/her shit.
‘Tax Lady’ Roni Lynn Deutch unfazed by state fraud suit [Sacramento Bee]
And now that Jerry Brown is going to Governor (again), he actually has bigger problems.
Keeping the SEC Out of Our Hair Is Always on the Table
This all started when a shareholder asked Michael about this, and he said that we’re looking into it. Well, of course we’re looking into it.
~ Brian Gladden, CFO of Dell, comes off a little sassy discussing the possibility of the company going private.
Accountant Successfully Uses “I’ll have to answer to the wife” Defense to Avoid Driving Ban
In the Old Empire, if you’re busted driving over 100 mph, you’re supposed to lose your license. Apparently there is an unwritten exception to this rule that says if you’re soon-to-be married and the bride WILL NOT STAND FOR IT, you get a pass.
Exhibit A: Christopher Bidgood, 32 an accountant from “Martham near Great Yarmouth” was stopped after going 110 and “weaving in and out of traffic.” Not the first time he had a run-in over his lead foot:
Bidgood of Martham near Great Yarmouth had faced a driving ban of up to 56 days after he admitted breaking the 70mph limit at 7.47pm on September 3.
Right, then. Bidgood’s attorney, knowing full well that his client is dumber than a sack of hammers, pulled the only card he thought he could play:
Tim Carey, defending, said Bidgood, had already faced the “displeasure” of his bride Amanda due to the risk of a ban ruining their honeymoon.
Describing his client’s behaviour behind the wheel, Mr Carey told the bench: “Sir, he has been a complete idiot – an idiot of the first order.”
But a “hardworking and honest” idiot, according to his co-workers, which may have helped his case as well.
This Is as Good as It Gets for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance
Six years and everyone pretty much has this down. Arthur Andersen (the man, not the firm) would be so proud.
Just don’t get lazy.
In the sixth year of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requirements, companies with a public float greater than $75 million reduced their rate of adverse opinions from 5 percent in the fifth year to only 2.4 percent in the most recent year. Even if companies that have missed their filing deadlines turn in adverse opinions, it would bump the rate to only 2.8 percent, said Don Whalen, director of research for Audit Analytics.
Over the six reporting years that public companies have been filing the reports, adverse opinions have steadily fallen from a high of 16.9 percent for fiscal years ending after Nov. 15, 2004, to the current low of 2.4 percent, said Whalen. “It’s getting to the point where you wonder if it can even be reduced any more,” he said.
Garden Stater Needs Help Choosing Between Ernst & Young and Deloitte
Welcome to the “Thank Tim Flynn It’s Friday” edition of Accounting Career Couch. In today’s post, we have soon-to-be Big 4 employee wringing her hands over which firm to choose in New Jersey – Ernst & Young or Deloitte. Will the wrong decision put her career on the path to ruin? [effect]
Looking for career advice? Is your integrity being challenged? Need ideas on how to woo an unresponsive accountant addicted to love? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll help you chase down the love of your life (or recommend a good lawyer).
Back to our Garden State go-getter:
I have received an offer for a full time position at both Ernst & Young and Deloitte, NJ offices. I am coming right out of college and would like to get input on which one to choose. Both of them are really great and I like the people at both places- although I can say that I felt better taken care of with Ernst & Young (they had partners calling to extend the offers and made many follow up calls to make sure they get all your questions answered.
I have been going through some company reviews for both, and it seems to be that the major complaint for EY is the salary raises and the limited opportunities for career advancement (I would like to know if this is accurate information). As per Deloitte, the main complaint seem to be the long hours- which is expected for a Big 4, however career advancement seems to be very good. – once again I would like to know if this is accurate and if it is true that career advancement is better at Deloitte than it is at EY.
I would really appreciate your help as I need to get back to these companies within a month and it is a very large decision to make.
Dear Jersey Girl,
Our knowledge about the Garden State amounts to a just a few things:
1. Medford and Byram Township seem like nice places to be from.
2. The Nets suck.
3. Pretty much anything from The Sopranos.
4. No matter how convenient it is in reality, we don’t like taking the PATH.
None of these points help you. What we can tell you is that effort made by the E&Y partners may be the tie-breaker. If everything between the two firms seem the same and the E&Y partners won big points with you, that’s who you should choose.
Now. Your concerns in the other two areas are a little unfounded. First – Ernst & Young’s most recent salary increases were better than Deloitte’s until the recent mea culpa by the Green Dot Gang so if nothing else, they’re staying competitive.
Secondly – we’re not sure what you mean by “limited opportunities for advancement” but E&Y is a huge firm with plenty of opportunities. Plus, if you want something to happen, you’ll make it happen. Doors don’t slam shut just because you choose one firm over another. Plus, the path to partner is long with a big parking lot right in front of it.
As far a long hours are concerned – this has been covered ad nauseam. You’re working lots of hours no matter what. This should not be a decision point.
As far as the specifics about the offices across the Hudson, we’ll leave that up to the peanut gallery. Help the girl out.