Category: Big 4

If it happens at a Big 4 accounting firm, we’re talking about it here.

E&Y Partners Should Work on Their Ice Breakers Prior to Talking Layoffs

The Pacific Northwest Area leaders have a town hall meeting in the Area offices. The retiring Area Managing Partner and incoming partner both show videos of each other to “introduce” them to the little people. These videos brag about how one collects ferraris (shows other partner in his ferrari at the show room) and the other shows the incoming partner’s closet full of Jimmy Choo shoes. And the best part?? It was at this meeting where they tell people (everyone from admin to partners) that they are making 5% cuts in December…And then of course they proceed to go through multiple rounds of cuts – Dec, March, June and not sure if it is over.

We enjoy an Italian sports car as much as the next guy but for crissakes, using it to segue into layoffs? Do you think they ran this script by anyone or did they just wing it? If you’ve got other stories of tawdry behavior, by all means, pass them along.

Deloitte Is Super Proud of Their 100% Free Preventive Healthcare

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Reno.jpgA source at Deloitte let us know that at least one partner thought it was pretty kick ass that Uncle Dangle was providing healthcare coverage that basically amounts to an HMO:

I got off a call where a partner seemed pretty pleased w/ himself (read: the partnership). “100% Free Preventative Healthcare” was how it was termed. I’m not sure how it affects others, but frankly under my plan, there wasn’t a difference. Just thought it was funny that a big-deal was made of it when the difference was non-existent.

More, after the jump


Text from Deloittenet:

Deloitte’s Total Rewards team worked with our national medical plans to offer 100 percent coverage of in-network preventive care to all of our program participants as of January 1, 2009. This care applies to well-man, woman, and child visits, including lab tests and other preventive screenings. With such a generous preventive care benefit in place, there is no longer a need for the Physical Exam Reimbursement Policies (Administrative Policy Release 465 for partners, principals and directors and Administrative Policy Release 266 for senior managers and managers).
By using an in-network provider through one of Deloitte’s national medical plans, you are able to receive important preventive health care benefits at no cost. A detailed description of the preventive care benefits available through each of the plans is available on DeloitteNet.

Thanks for the notification D. Save us all the trouble and just call it an HMO. It’s certainly arguable that HMOs have been shown to increase wellness but why the hell didn’t they just claim to have invented the Internet?

(UPDATE 2) KPMG Atlanta Shake-up Makes Us Wonder

pool boy.jpgLeadership changes are inevitable in any business but the reasons can be a mystery. Dismal performance? Drugs? A pool boy? All of the above??
Tim Flynn (taking a break from his caddying duties) and John Veihmeyer sent a very upbeat email to the Atlanta office yesterday announcing the new office managing partner there.

Atlanta Office Leadership
A Message from Tim Flynn and John Veihmeyer | October 13, 2009
We are pleased to announce the appointment of [redacted] as managing
partner (OMP) for Atlanta, succeeding [redacted] who has moved into a
client facing role reflecting our commitment to focusing our most
experienced Partners directly on the marketplace.
We want to first thank [redacted] for his many contributions to the Atlanta office and for his leadership roles as lead area managing partner and Southeast area managing partner for Audit. In his new role, [redacted] will be focused on developing new market opportunities, serving some of our largest audit clients and assisting national and local leadership with client care and major proposals.
[Redacted] brings more than 27 years of experience to his new role. He is currently the Global Chairman of Industrial Markets and the National Sector Leader for Energy & Natural Resources, based in Houston. [Redacted] has spent the majority of his career serving energy clients, including Duke Energy, Chevron, Schlumberger, and Spectra Energy.
A well-recognized industry speaker and thought leader, [redacted] was a speaker at the 2006 World Economic Forum meeting in São Paulo. He is also a frequent guest on CNBC’s Squawk Box discussing energy issues and is a regular contributor to energy trade magazines. Since 2003, [redacted] has hosted KPMG’s Annual Global Energy Conference, which is attended by 500-600 energy executives each year.
Please join us in wishing both [redacted] and [redacted] success in their new roles, and in thanking [redacted] for his many contributions as leader of the Atlanta office.
Tim Flynn
Chairman
John Veihmeyer
CEO & Deputy Chairman

Ohhhhh, Squawk Box. That’s a feather in your cap.
Our source told us that: “‘Moved into a client facing role’ means you’ve been demoted in KPMG speak.” We asked around and it’s not clear just what the hell that means but we’ll run with it.
If you’ve got some more information on the shake up at the Radio Station Hotlanta, let us know or discuss in the comments.
UPDATE, 2:45 PM: We’ve received some tips confirming a new Dallas managing partner and have also heard there will be some shifting around of leadership in the New York office but we don’t have many details, so please share.
UPDATE, Thursday 2:49: According to another source, Southeast AMPs for the Tax and Advisory Practices are also being transitioned into client-facing roles.

Firm Mascot Challenge: PwC

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Ashley3.jpgWe’ll assume everybody is down with the KPMG Pomeranian and Uncle Dangle for Deloitte. If not, speak now or shut your pieholes.
There’s some resistance to the idea of famous Governor banger, Ashley Dupre, being worthy of the PwC Mascot.
Frankly, since P. Dubs has made some feel like prosties already and has also shown that, as firm, they don’t mind whoring themselves out for some scratch, the argument can easily be made that Ashley is the perfect mascot. On the other hand, the point has been made, and is duly noted, that high-priced call girls are much cooler than any accounting firm.
So you see the problem here but it’s not our decision. We’ll leave it up to you. State your submission for the PwC mascot and give a brief explanation for said suggestion in the comments.
Keep it clever people, mascots already assigned to any other team or organization will be ignored with extreme prejudice. On with it then.

Ernst & Young Has Another Vote Counting Gig

hairy-nascar-fan.jpgWAY more prestigious than the Emmys mind you. No, E&Y has now managed to snag the coveted honor of counting the votes for the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class.
The other firms are, no doubt, insanely envious of E&Y for landing this prestigious gig but we have several important questions:


• Will the E&Y auditors have to memorize the winners and all of their sponsors?
• Shirts (let alone tuxedos) seem a little formal for a NASCAR event so what will the auditors wear?
• Instead of simply handcuffing the results to their wrists, will the auditors need guards armed with Desert Eagles to keep the crazies from highjacking the results?
• Instead of Dr. Horrible, who will make a special appearance to distract the audience during the explanation of the vote tabulation? Jeff Foxworthy seems too obvious.
• Will E&Y be paid in Bud Light as it seems to be accepted as legal tender in these circles?
Let us know your thoughts on E&Y’s new engagement and your ideas on responses to the questions posed above.
Hall of Fame Announcement Set For Wednesday [FanZone Sports]

PwC pretty much admits that they are…

prostie.jpg…whores for the insurance industry.

The firm issued a statement today after nearly every news outlet called them out as corporate trollops after the release of their report on the Baucus healthcare reform bill yesterday.


Per Politico:

America’s Health Insurance Plans engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to prepare a report that focused on four components of the Senate Finance Committee proposal:
· Insurance market reforms and consumer protections that would raise health insurance premiums for individuals and families if the reforms are not coupled with an effective coverage requirement.

· An excise tax on employer-sponsored high value health plans.

· Cuts in payment rates in public programs that could increase cost shifting to private sector businesses and consumers.

· New taxes on health sector entities.

The analysis concluded that collectively the four provisions would raise premiums for private health insurance coverage. As the report itself acknowledges, other provisions that are part of health reform proposals were not included in the PwC analysis. The report stated on page 1:

“The reform packages under consideration have other provisions that we have not included in this analysis. We have not estimated the impact of the new subsidies on the net insurance cost to households. Also, if other provisions in health care reform are successful in lowering costs over the long term, those improvements would offset some of the impacts we have estimated.”

It seems as though P. Dubs is trying to clarify that, “We know we’re whores. We even said so in our report. We’re the classy type of whore though. We won’t do anything unless the money is right but we are good at pleasing our clients.”

What we’re wondering is why PwC would go to the trouble of putting out a report that they knew was one-sided and then their client dances around like the report was brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai. Maybe the firm wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic response.

WTFK but something tells us that AHIP may not be enjoying their PwC Experience as much as they were yesterday.

PWC statement — Not so helpful for AHIP [Live Pulse/Politico]

‘The Global Firm’: Reality or a Marketing Gimmick?

Thumbnail image for outsourcing.jpgIn what amounts to another example of the Big 4 not having any control over their “global” operations, a new scandal has come up in Sri Lanka that involves both PwC and E&Y. According to the Sri Lankan Sunday Times the firms have “forfeited their reputations” in that country after working on a privatization transaction of a public enterprise.
The article is a tad on the long side so we’ll give you the highlights:
• Unauthorized preparation for the sale of SLIC – Both firms helped move the transaction along without the required approvals and questionable independence. Bureaucracy is a pain in the ass anyway.
• Manipulation of Accounts – Both firms were either producing or working with shoddy numbers and then weren’t exactly upfront about it.
Continued, after the jump


• Conflicts of interest – “Deva Rodrigo, a senior partner of PWC, was also a member of the Steering Committee that selected PWC as consultants on the transaction. He supervised their work and authorized payments to them while he simultaneously worked for them himself and received a share of such fees as a Senior Partner, PWC Sri Lanka…The report stated that [E&Y] continued to be the auditors of SLIC after the purchasers took possession, management and control on April 11, 2003. At the same time, E&Y was committed to audit SLIC accounts on December 31, 2002 and April 11, 2003 for the government, i.e., the sellers. The report further states that because of its representation on the Steering Committee, PWC was aware of the misconduct of E&Y.”
This less than flattering news for P. Dubs and E&Y follows the snoozer raids of the E&Y offices in Hong Kong and the PwC and KPMG offices in Reykjavik, Iceland. Regardless of the lack of dramatic moments in these raids, we can safely say that the firms would rather that they make news by issuing less than objective reports rather than raids and scandals involving blatant chicanery by their employees.
Dennis Howlett points out that the firms continue to market themselves as “global” firms when it’s pretty obvious that there is very little control over what goes on in each individual country: “Message to the Big Four: stop pretending you are in control of the global networks. Either do the job properly or acknowledge that in reality it’s all a PR stunt.”
Does DH have a point? Are firms just faux-global? Sure you can do a rotation, new associates can get their own rooms in Rome, and you can send a prank email to a partner in Sydney from an intern’s laptop but is does that mean they are global organizations or just have money to burn?
Make your case for or against the ‘Global’ mantra in the comments.
PWC and EY heavily implicated in unlawful privatization [AccMan]
Unlawful privatisations in Lanka – Role of the Auditors [Sri Lankan Sunday Times/FT]

Don’t Sulk Big 4, Things Aren’t That Bad

Sulking.jpgRegardless of what accounting firms may say about their current troubles because of “tough economic conditions”, lots of these “conditions” can be pret-tay good for business.
Reuters reports that several companies, including your favorites, have pulled down more than a fair amount fees related to the “asset protection scheme” that insures risky assets held by Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.
KPMG (£6.5M), E&Y (£4.3M), and PwC (£4.2M) were the top earners assisting the Brits with their version of the magic money printing machine. Oddly, Deloitte is no where to be found in this article but maybe that’s got something to do with the £59 million they received from RBS. That seems to make up for it.
Stateside, E&Y is pulling down $60 million for its work with the New York Fed on AIG which makes the RBS/Lloyds fees look like a lemonade stand.
Since misery loves company, it might be poor taste for any firm to be excited about the money that is rolling in. So nevermind our tendency to focus on the positive. Go back to feeling sorry for your slumping revenues.
KPMG Earns Most From Bank Asset Plan [Reuters]

PwC Lends a Hand to the Insurance Industry

Thumbnail image for pwclogo.thumbnail.jpgWe’re confident that you all enjoy talking about healthcare reform. If it wasn’t for the long hours you had to work, we’d be reading about all the accountants showing up at the town hall meetings to bring sanity to what otherwise appears to be a meeting of escaped mental patients.
Now, just when you thought that the debate had saturated the country into submission, America’s Health Insurance Plans has put out a new report, courtesy of P. Dubs, that states that the costs of health insurance would rise significantly under the plan submitted by Senator Max Baucus of Montana.
Continued, after the jump


From the executive summary:

There are four provisions included in the Senate Finance Committee proposal that could
increase private health insurance premiums above the levels projected under current law:
• Insurance market reforms coupled with a weak coverage requirement,
• A new tax on high-cost health care plans,
• Cost-shifting as a result of cuts to Medicare, and
• New taxes on several health care sectors.
The overall impact of these provisions will be to increase the cost of private health insurance coverage for individuals, families, and businesses. The net impact of these increases on households would include the impact of these increases and the new subsidies provided under the bill.

The report states that on average, costs will go up 79% under the current system between 2009 and 2019 and 111% for the same time period if the provisions are implemented.
Politico calls bullshit, “The industry, which didn’t like last week’s [Congressional Budge Office] report, bought its own analysis and will tout the PricewaterhouseCoopers findings in new ads.”
On the one hand, you can’t really expect PwC to do put out a report like this for nothing but did anyone really expect them to come to a different conclusion?
As we pointed out recently, accounting firm reports typically don’t get lots of attention but when they do, it’s usually over something that causes people to get all crazy for their particular side.
PwC will certainly be perceived as the insurance industry whore here but since they aren’t actually an insurance company, the firm won’t likely receive the worst of the populist chastisement and will just enjoy some free publicity.
Insurers, docile till now, go to war [Politico Pulse]
Potential Impact of Health Reform on the Cost of Private Health Insurance Coverage [PwC Report]

KPMG’s Report on the Atlantic Yards Project Didn’t Impress Some People

Thumbnail image for bklyn.jpgWe might be going out on a limb here but it seems like a lot of studies that the large accounting firms put out don’t get much attention. There might be a press release and a mention here and there but otherwise not too much excitement.

That being said, KPMG must be thrilled that the Atlantic Yards Report is taking such exception with thlantic Yards Project:

KPMG’s Atlantic Yards market study, conducted on request of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), backs up the assertion that Atlantic Yards might be completed in the announced ten years, rather than, as then-ESDC CEO Marisa Lago said in April, “decades.”

Well, not only are projections about condo values questionable, as I wrote earlier today, but KPMG’s report has some very shoddy research. Consider that the report (dated August 31) claims that Richard Meier’s On Prospect Park is 75% sold. (Only rental buildings are pre-leased.)

However, the New York Times reported September 27:

While the developers say half of the building’s 99 units have been sold, the real estate Web site StreetEasy.com documents only 25 closings through public records.

KPMG claims that the Oro Condos are also 75% sold. But just this week Crain’s reported that prices at Oro had been slashed 25%.

If you’re not familiar with the Atlantic Yards Project, you’re lucky. Let’s put it this way, it’s a $5 billion project that involves moving the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn courtesy of Nets owner Bruce Ratner and sixteen new high-rise buildings and will be finished long after we get global accounting convergence.

So yeah, a developer’s paradise. Problem is that all the hype has transformed into a giant argument that pretty much involves everyone. As NoLandGrab points out, “if the Atlantic Yards project is so great, why does everyone pushing the project forward, and every alleged ‘study’ extolling its virtues, have to stray so far from the truth to make it appear viable?”

The obvious benefit we foresee is that the project may get rid of the worst Target on Earth but we may lack vision.

As for the Radio Station, they probably had the best of intentions when preparing their report but now, for better or worse, KPMG, who has yet to respond to our request for comment, is near the center of the rage. Enjoy.

What was KPMG smoking? Report claims 75% of Meier’s On Prospect Park has been sold; other statistics are way off [Atlantic Yards Project via NoLandGrab]
KPMG Atlantic Yards Market Study.pdf

UPDATE – July 13, 2010: Hey gang – a bit of belated correction/clarification here. Norman Oder, who writes the Atlantic Yards Report got in touch with us about our little quip about Target. He wrote to us “I know you’re trying to be entertaining, but that’s not close to true. The Target is across the road from the project site.”

So I guess our wishing out loud for the big Brooklyn bullseye to be destroyed won’t be happening (it’s not part of the plans at least) but we stand by our assertion that the Target is a hellhole and needs to be destroyed.

Comp Watch ’10: Is PwC Phoning It in Already?

Thumbnail image for pwclogo.thumbnail.jpgYeesh, we hope not. Problem is, when we reported on P. Dubs canceling Christmaskah last week, people were speculating that P. Dubs was also kinda sorta putting it out there that there would be no merit increases for fiscal 2010. We’ve received additional tips suggesting the same thing so we’ll put out to you to discuss further.
After Tuesday’s spintastic revenue results, Denny and Co. may have concluded that putting it out there that you shouldn’t get your hopes up for a super P. Dubya comeback was the best course of action.
Problem as we see it is that alluding to the idea that raises aren’t gonna happen can’t be good for morale. Plus, there are the continuing rumors of senior managers leaving en masse, via their own will or otherwise. On the bright side, that could set up for a nice little surprise come next year if things turn around and Den-Den sounded pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay optimistic in Tuesday’s press release.
Discuss your thoughts on P. Dubs seemingly pessimistic attitude in the comments.