Yesterday, the regulatory love child of Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley, the PCAOB, issued its […]
Category: Deloitte
Your Friday Completely Out Of Context PowerPoint Slide Is Brought To You By Deloitte
After our post on PwC’s credibility crisis we received a number of emails regarding the […]
E&Y and Deloitte Are Here to Remind You That Women Are Grossly Underrepresented in the Old Boys’ Club
You might have read this morning that Avon's CEO Andrea Jung is being forced out. Okay, […]
Technological Advances Inside Deloitte Have Some People All Excited
We here at GC received the following email in our inboxes this Moanday morning:
Finally!!! See below 🙂
Direct Pay makes managing your expenses easier
Published: 05-Dec-11With the implementation of Direct Pay, managing your business expenses just got simpler. Direct Pay is the process where Deloitte pays American Express directly, on your behalf, for your business expenses that have been imported into DTE.
There is no change to billing dates, the point rewards program, or the way you enter your expenses.
Direct Pay will begin for U.S. professionals with expense reports dated December 17 (U.S. India professionals are not part of Direct Pay at this time.)
The process is simple:
• Use your American Express corporate card for business expenses
• Import your expenses into DTE
• Deloitte pays American Express for the imported expensesProfessionals will still be responsible for paying American Express directly for any minor non-business corporate card charges, or any American Express business charges that are manually entered into DTE. To help you with this process, there is a new tool in DTE that reconciles your monthly American Express charges to what you have imported.
Sweet Baby Jesus, it doesn’t take much to excite the Green Dots these days, does it? It’s impossible for us to tell whether or not our contributor is a traveling worker bee or the executive assistant of some traveling Big Wig (Joey E!), but it doesn’t really matter because they are SUPER PSYCHED. Is this what it’s come to for us? Forget about holiday bonuses or even some free schwag; filing expense reports just got only slightly marginally sorta kinda maybe better. No word yet on a charge code for the strip joint, errrr “Big Ben’s Steakhouse.” Continue to pay those charges with your excess per diem.
So this got us thinking. What other kinds of techy improvements would improve your lives at work? Some off-the-cuffers:
1. Partner calls sent straight to voicemail.
2. Starbucks, delivered.*
3. The ability to work from home and have a work/life bal…oh wait. Nevermind.
Who is else in a dizzy tizzy about Big D’s technological advancement? Spill your joys below.
*Interns do not count.
We Read This Awful Interview with Deloitte’s Joe Echevarria So You Don’t Have To
You don’t have to be Bob Woodward to recognize the formulaic nature of the CEO interview. Reporter goes to CEO’s office, asks loaded questions about the issues of the day, describes the view from the office, elaborates on the person’s exercise regimen, humble (or not so humble) beginnings, people they admire, yada yada yada. Cripes, reading these things makes you want to shave with broken glass but hey! editors get in ruts just li we’re stuck with the puff. By extension, interviews with Big 4 CEOs are worse because they typically occur with General Counsel sitting in the next room zapping their genitals every time a question is asked that necessitates “I can’t comment on that.”
Today’s example comes courtesy of Reuters who interviewed Deloitte’s Joe Echevarria. What prompted this little chat was the PCAOB’s release of Part II of the firm’s 2008 inspection report. It wasn’t exactly a flattering portrayal of a firm who, when asked to brush up on their audit skills, basically told the PCAOB to drop dead.
Accordingly, the firm is running damage control and that involves getting Joe E. in front of some friendly reporters (read: not Jon Weil or Francine McKenna).
Recently faulted by the main U.S. auditor watchdog, Deloitte has told its professionals that skepticism should be the No. 1 focus during the upcoming auditing season for annual financial reports, CEO Joe Echevarria said.
“I know there’s a heightened awareness about professional skepticism in the firm,” he said. “It’s going to take a while for heightened awareness to manifest itself in actions and documentation because humans are involved here.”
The natural follow-up question here would be, “But Mr. Echevarria, the PCAOB asked you to fix things in 2008-2009, are you saying that you’re now just ‘manifesting itself in actions’?” but that brings out the zapper. That’s okay, we’re all used to it. You know what else we’re used to? Talking about the “expectations gap”:
There is an “expectations gap” between what auditors do and what the public expects, but auditors do have an obligation to detect and report material fraud, Echevarria said.
Echevarria is also asked about auditor rotation, IFRS and (for some odd reason) its settlement over the Adelphia fraud in 2005. Why not ask about the swinging insider trading scandal? What about Taylor, Bean & Whitaker? What about associates sneaking bloggers into the downtown W? WHAT ABOUT THIS FAUX TARA REID MARRIAGE? People want these all-important questions on the record and yet it never happens. Sigh.
By the way since it’s obvious that some of you care about these details, Joe is from the Bronx and his office is in Midtown.
Deloitte pressing for more skeptical audits (God, the headline is even awful) [Reuters]
Deloitte Associate Who Supports Occupy Wall Street Admits That His Idea of Camping is the W Hotel
As you know, a number of people in Lower Manhattan have spent the last two months Occupying Wall Street by way of camping out in Zuccotti Park. While September and October proved to be unseasonably warm, thus allowing Occupiers to exercise their 1st Amendment rights in relative comfort, November has brought cooler temps which has caused some relative discomfort among the campers. Oh, and Mayor Bloomberg was sorta sick of the mess and had everyone’s tents forcibly removed.
While many protesters have had to seek less squalid accommodations, other supporters of the movement have been able to find quarters that are more suitable for their tastes. This includes Deloitte associate Brad Spitzer who has been traveling to New York from California for work and has taken the opportunity to get his occupy on. And while he’s enthusiastic about the cause, Spitzer isn’t exactly down for park living:
“Tents are not for me,” he confessed, when confronted in the sleek black lobby of the Washington Street hotel where sources described him as a “repeat” guest.
Spitzer, 24, an associate at financial-services giant Deloitte, which netted $29 billion in revenue last year, admitted he joined the protest at Zuccotti Park several times.
“I’m staying here for work,” said Spitzer, dressed down in a company T-shirt and holding a backpack and his suitcase. “I do finance, but I support it still.”
You guys understand. There are just certain comforts that a Green Dot employee gets accustomed to – a soft mattress, a hot shower, room service – no matter how good of a drum circle you find.
Occupy Wall Street protesters stay at $700-a-night hotel [NYP]
Deloitte Taking Precautions for Possible Unwelcome Guests
This just in:
WFC Update
Zuccotti Park EvacuationAs a result of the evacuation of protestors in Zuccotti Park early this morning, there will be limited access into 1 and 2 WFC until further notice.
Currently, the walkway bridge that connects 1 and 2 WFC will be closed. All building tenants must present identification to gain access. For visitors, the name of the tenant and person visiting will need to be provided to building security.
Access restrictions are subject to change, as information and updates from building management are changing rapidly.
We appreciate your cooperation and will continue to keep you informed through this mailbox. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to myself [redacted email] or [redacted].
[Guy who gets to deal with these sorts of things]
Area Operations Manager
Deloitte Services LP
Layoffs Watch ’11: Deloitte
Sounds like the aforementioned rumored layoffs have begun.
Yes they are occurring and I know as I am one of the individual’s impacted. There was no advance warning. I know one other individual in Philly that was also laid off. We are both in the tax practice. My understanding is that it is nationwide and mostly impacts senior managers.
Keep us updated if cuts are going down at your office.
The Big 4 and the Revolving Door
Last week the bane of Big 4 auditors existence, the PCAOB, broke their cherry on releasing Part II of an inspection report for a Big 4 firm. The honor went to Deloitte, who sufficiently blew off the Board’s recommendations for 12 months, which led to the release of Part II.
Bloomberg‘s Jonathan Weil, who usually sits back with popcorn while these things go down before chiming in, got to it today but with a twist that you probably weren’t expecting: