
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts IV and V
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we’re focusing on the strategy consulting arms of PwC and EY in Australia, as Miles Tam recently left PwC’s Strategy& as a director to join the partnership at EY Port Jackson Partners. In addition, EY Port Jackson Partners lured Chris Paxton away from […]

Botham Jean’s Killer Is Appealing Her 10-Year Prison Sentence
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas cop who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2019 for murdering PwC accountant Botham Jean in his apartment a year earlier, has an appeals hearing scheduled for later this month. The NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported last month that Guyger’s hearing will begin at 1 p.m. […]

You Can Now Drive By Dallas Police HQ on Botham Jean Boulevard
Back in January we told you guys about the Dallas City Council approving to rename a four-mile stretch of South Lamar Street, including where the Dallas Police Department’s headquarters is located, in memory of Botham Jean, the PwC accountant who was murdered in his apartment by a Dallas police officer in September 2018. Botham Jean […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part XI
Hey. Hope you are having a good Monday so far. Danielle Malone wasn’t as scared of KPMG coming after her as the dog in the video we posted on Sunday. In fact, she actually left PwC in Australia (the biggest of the Big 4 in terms of revenue) to join the Australian House of Klynveld […]

PwC Peeper Finally Gets Jail Time For His Upskirt Photo Fetish
Leon Chan just couldn’t stop taking photos up girls’ skirts. This dude, who used to work for PwC, had 1,700 upskirt pics saved on his iPhone when he was arrested in July 2019 at the Topshop clothing store in London after getting caught taking photos of a female shopper bending over. The crazy thing is […]

It’s Bonus Bonanza Time at Deloitte and PwC In India
Nearly a week after Deloitte in India said it would give all employees either a bonus or a straightforward increase in salary this month as the firm bounces back from a pandemic-related malaise, PwC leaders in India are also sharing the wealth with employees as a “token of appreciation” for hanging in there during the […]

PwC Building In New Zealand Evacuated After Bomb Threat
PwCers who work in the firm’s building in Wellington, New Zealand had a bit of a scare earlier this morning after they were evacuated following a bomb threat. Police are responding to an incident on Wellington's waterfront. Multiple officers & police cars are stationed outside the PWC building. Public area outside has been cordoned off. […]

PwC Tried to Recruit a Former Auditor Who Is Suing Them So Don’t Ever Sweat Burning Bridges Again
When it comes time to think about leaving public accounting, which happens for 99% of public accountants except for those brave and oddly-programmed individuals who are cut out for the partner track, one of the foremost considerations in any exasperated public accountant’s mind is: how can I do this without burning bridges? From the time […]

Talent-Strapped PwC Is That Desperate Ex Texting You With ‘WYD’ After You’ve Moved On
Leaving public accounting is rarely an easy decision, even when the choices are “stay or have a crippling nervous breakdown.” It’s not that the decision itself is hard, rather the consequences of taking an oftentimes necessary leap can lead to difficulties in securing subsequent employment if, as your accounting professors would have you believe, walking […]

For Now, PwC’s Audit Quality Stinks
In Footnotes last Friday, we highlighted a recent Accounting Today article about PwC finally taking audit quality seriously what measures PwC is taking to improve audit quality. In the article, Wes Bricker, PwC’s U.S. assurance leader and former SEC chief accountant, dropped a bomb—a Bricker bomb, if you will—about the most recent PCAOB inspections cycle: […]

Number of the Day: 5,447
No, that’s not the combined number of sit-ups and push-ups PwC Chairman Tim Ryan does in a week. It’s the number of SEC-registered clients across the mutual fund spectrum that are audited by PwC, according to a recent Audit Analytics analysis. And as Audit Analytics noted, PwC has a stranglehold on mutual fund engagements, with […]

The Olds vs. PwC: Federal Judge Seems Fine with Age Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement (UPDATE)
The $11.6 million settlement reached last March between PwC and two accountants who claimed they weren’t hired for associate positions with the firm because of their older age is a done deal. All that’s left is getting attorney fees figured out. Law360 reported on Jan. 27: A California federal judge said Wednesday he’ll approve PricewaterhouseCoopers […]

Did PwC Actually Pay Off Audit Staff to Do Inventory Counts Out of Desperation?
According to this recent post on Fishbowl, the answer is yes: Hey, if you’re a low man or woman on the totem pole at PwC, didn’t mind traveling to a client site during a pandemic, and if you didn’t mind working during #PwCTakesABreak or whatever the hell PwC calls its two-week time-off period before busy […]

Grant Thornton Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part II
With Mark Andrus retiring later this summer, Grant Thornton needed to find someone to succeed him as leader of the firm’s R&D Tax Credit Services practice. GT did, and he has Big 4 chops: Keith Nickels has joined Grant Thornton LLP as a Tax partner and national leader of the firm’s Research and Development (R&D) […]

RIP Jack Ryan, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at PwC U.K.
Really sad news from the U.K., where a PwC marketing manager was struck by a car and killed while jogging last week at a notoriously dangerous spot for pedestrians in Chelsea. Birmingham Mail reported: Jack Ryan was struck by an oncoming Range Rover on Wednesday, January 13 at around 6pm close to Battersea Bridge in […]

There Will Soon Be a Botham Jean Boulevard In Dallas Named After Slain PwC Accountant
Kudos to all 15 members of the Dallas City Council for ultimately agreeing to honor murdered PwC accountant Botham Jean in this way. The Dallas Morning News reported on Jan. 13: The Dallas City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved renaming about four miles of South Lamar Street in memory of Botham Jean. He was shot to […]

PwC Traps Employees For Financial Penalties
PwC just fined me 3% of my annual pay for not reporting a few stocks that my spouse bought prior to the time when I joined the firm. Note this is not a conflict of interest issue or insider trading issue because the stocks my spouse owned had no connection with PwC’s client. When I […]

It Seems PwC Issues Reports On Just About Everything, Including Babies
The Telegraph reported the following from PwC’s Lamaze practice (probably): Britain faces a baby bust this year as Covid and lockdown wreck the plans of millions of would-be parents. The birth rate could fall to its lowest level on record as chaos from the pandemic forces couples to delay starting a family and lockdown measures […]

PwCers Got a Holiday Concert, What’d You Get?
It’s about that time to start comparing what branded goods everyone is swapping in the name of Christmas (or Hanukkah or winter solstice or whatever it is you choose to celebrate in this, the last mile of the year), a favorite pastime of accountants everywhere. We’re hearing PwCers were treated to a “concert” (via webcast, […]

Compensation Watch ’20: PwC Making Mid-Year Salary Adjustments For Everyone
Christmas came early for those donning the orange, red, and yellow, as PwC employees were told the following today during a firmwide webcast, according to a tipster (bold emphasis added): PwC avoided layoffs by freezing pay, paid (smaller than target but still substantial) bonuses in the fall, now increasing base pay for nearly all staff […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part X
Not only are there two former EY tax wonks who are part of the latest class of tax partners and managing directors at KPMG but there’s also a PwC refugee. From a KPMG announcement posted by Tax Grotto: Jeremy Jester has rejoined KPMG as a managing director in its SALT practice. He has nearly 15 years […]

Shabooya! PwC Makes the Front Page of Reddit But Not In a Good Way
It’s always funny to me as a person who has spent the majority of my adult life lingering around the periphery of the accounting profession when, in the course of my day outside of work, I randomly come across accounting-related material. It’s especially funny when said material is being reacted to by the population at […]

Life at PwC Is All About Bewo Werk Llwe Ll
Leave it to PwC to deliver its “Be Well, Work Well” message in a weird and confusing way. Their futures are so bright, they gotta wear shades, I guess. Or it’s to hide the enormous bags under their eyes from the lack of sleep they get because of all the hours they work at PwC, […]

Another Tragedy Strikes PwC In Dallas
The NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported yesterday that no arrests have been made in the September hit-and-run that killed 25-year-old Andrew Jordan Santiago, a senior associate at PwC in Dallas. KXAS-TV reported: Santiago was walking home at around 11:08 p.m. after he watched the Dallas Stars play in the Stanley Cup Final on Sept. […]

New PwC Tower In Italy Is Probably the Most Phallic-Looking Big 4 HQ In the World
The newly completed headquarters for PwC Italy sure is generating a lot of buzz within the architecture industry. Designed by American-Polish architect Daniel Libeskind, the new PwC Tower in Milan, called “The Curved One” because of its unique shape, is located on the old site of Milan’s International Fair, which closed in 2005. The 574-foot-tall […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part IX
Back in August it was announced that KPMG’s head of diversity and inclusion, Michele Meyer-Shipp, would be leaving the firm to join the big leagues. No, not Deloitte, the actual big leagues—Major League Baseball—as its new chief people and culture officer. It took a while but today KPMG announced Meyer-Shipp’s successor, Elena Richards, who left […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part VIII
The KPMG/PwC poaching rivalry is still going strong, but weirdly, it seems like more troops are deserting PwC for a job at KPMG than the other way around. It’s like we’re living in Bizarro World. In our latest edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” one of the newest partners at KPMG […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part VII
It seems like more Big 4ers are trading in their PwC autumnal hues for KPMG blue lately than the other way around. That was the case in our latest edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” as the Queen’s KPMG officially unveiled three new private equity partners, one of whom was snatched […]

EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part III
EY U.K. is so excited about its recent hire of a former PwC partner that someone in communications actually sent us this message earlier today: I absolutely loved the first two parts of your ‘EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release,’ To complete the trilogy, I wondered if you’d be interested in […]

Sigur Rós Isn’t a Huge Fan of PwC or Paying Taxes
“We are musicians, we hired the people who we thought were the best in the world. And he failed us.” — Georg Holm, bassist for the legendary Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, said about the band’s accountant Gunnar Ásgeirsson, who worked at PwC. I’ve got a few Sigur Rós albums on CDs that I burned […]

The PwC Pillow Has More of a Life Than You Do
Tim Ryan must be taking his favorite pillow camping this Labor Day weekend: View this post on Instagram A post shared by @vp_pillow You forgot a hashtag, Pillow. #PwCProud Related article: Move Over @MickelsonHat, a PwC Pillow Is Taking the Social Media World By Storm

Thanks to the Rona, PwC’s Global Revenue Only Went Up a Measly 1.4% in FY 2020
Big 4 revenue gloating season kicked off today with PwC being first out of the gate. In a normal year, EY is typically first bragging about its third-place global revenue, then Deloitte, P. Dubs, and KPMG. But 2020 has been anything but normal, and that is reflected in PwC’s results for the most recent financial […]

EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part II
Dan Dennett announced to his LinkedIn connections about a month ago that he recently joined the black and yellow team. And here is his WFH battlestation:The newish EY associate partner is the focus of today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World.” Dennett joins the Queen’s EY from PwC U.K. where he […]

Grant Thornton Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Aug. 10 was a big day for the PR team at Grant Thornton in the Cayman Islands because they actually had some news to write about. They hadn’t sent out a news release since June 12. But after GT nabbed a director from PwC in the Caymans, the firm actually gave its PR team something […]

Layoff Watch ’20: PwC to Sever Ties with 5% of Its Workforce In Australia (UPDATE) PwC Limits Job Cuts to About 3%
[Updated on Aug. 3 with additional information.] PwC Australia CEO Tom Seymour said layoffs last month weren’t as large as anticipated—the firm let go of 250 PwCers instead of the 400 employees who had initially been targeted for involuntary departure by redeploying dozens of staff, according to the Australian Financial Review on Aug. 3: Mr […]

This Person Is Really Guzzling the PwC Kool-Aid
Saw this posted on Fishbowl a little bit ago, and I’m really hoping this is just a sarcastic PwCer having a little fun while working and not someone who believes all the tripe that comes out of management’s mouths:If you think this person isn’t being sarcastic and is trying to be a good soldier at […]

PwC U.K.’s Auditing Report Card Gets a Grade of U for Unsatisfactory
Yesterday we began our review of the seven audit quality inspection reports issued recently by the U.K.’s audit cops, the Financial Reporting Council, with Deloitte, which was found to have only four of 17 audits (23.5%) that weren’t up to snuff. Today’s victim is PwC. Let’s see how this stalwart of auditing did during the […]

Ex-PwC Senior Manager Got Busted for Trying to Pull a Fast One on PCAOB Inspectors
If you try to do something to outsmart PCAOB inspectors, more often than not you’ll end up looking like the big dummy. Case in point, former PwC senior manager Ryan Collins, who was barred by the U.S. audit cops on July 21 for altering workpapers. Collins, who worked at P. Dubs from September 2010 until […]

Promotion Watch ’20: PwC Canada Welcomed 22 to Partnership Right Before Gutting 5% of Its Workforce
Among the slew of messages we got yesterday regarding the layoffs this week at PwC Canada was this one from a PwCer who was among the hundreds of employees told they were no longer welcome at the House of Marcoux: PwC Canada, just a week ago, was “proud” to announce their new 2020 partners, while […]

Layoff Watch ’20: PwC Canada Confirms It Is Handing Out Pink Slips (UPDATE)
[Updated on July 16 with additional information.] Ugh, here we go again. Another big Canadian firm is cutting employees during the pandemic, and the latest victims are from PwC. We got this tip around lunchtime on July 15: Lay offs have started in a few offices in PwC Canada, including me. I’m only aware of […]

Layoff Watch ’20: Rumor Has It That PwC Brazil Let Go of 600 Employees
[Updated on July 11 with additional information/comments.] A tipster brought to our attention this morning that several people on his LinkedIn feed who worked at PwC in Brazil no longer work at PwC in Brazil as of July 9. Here are a few of the posts, translated from Portuguese to English: And today my journey […]

Mazars USA Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Our favorite public accounting bandits Mazars USA is at it again, this time raiding PwC for someone to lead its first office in Texas—a new 4,000-square-foot cube farm in Dallas. Brad Leffler will lead the office and has 23 years of experience serving companies in a wide range of industries including retail and consumer products, […]

Promotion Watch ’20: PwC Admits 232 New Partners and Principals
Today is Promotion Day at PwC, a day to celebrate all those PwCers who earned their new stripes and stepped up in rank, including the firm’s newest class of 128 partners and 104 principals. This year’s class of 232 partners and principals isn’t as robust as the previous two years, but it’s the third largest […]

EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World” takes us to Romania, where EY has put everyone in that country on notice now that it just hired a tax specialist away from PwC and made her a partner. Georgiana Iancu now has a seat at the adult table: [Translated to English] Georgiana Iancu […]

Bonus Watch ’20: PwC Is Kinda, Sorta Going Forth with Bonuses, Raises (UPDATE)
[Updated on June 12 with additional information.] So we were told today by a couple of people that PwC had a webcast for new hires on Thursday, led by Chairman Tim Ryan, U.S. Recruitment Leader Rod Adams, and a couple of other people. Once the spiel about what PwC is doing to address the COVID-19 […]

KPMG Poaches Two More People From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part VI
It’s pretty crazy that there have been so many new KPMG hires from around the globe lately who have come from PwC, because it wasn’t that long ago when KPMG was pretty much a playground for future PwCers. Big 4-on-Big 4 poaching is fun! Especially when it involves these two firms. So let’s head over to […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part V
Everyone’s favorite golf company just hired away a turnaround specialist from one of its biggest rivals in the U.K. Let’s take a trip to London for our latest edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” where we learn a little more about PwCer-turned-KPMGer Massimiliano Messina: Professional services firm KPMG has announced the […]

Rumor Mill: PwC Canada Strongly Encouraging Tax Staff to Work Less So They Don’t Have to Fire You
PwC of the Canadian variety is apparently asking forcing its tax staff to volunteer agree to reduce their work hours with a corresponding reduction in pay to avoid layoffs. Hmmm, how did that work out for Deloitte Canada? Here’s a tip we got over the weekend: PwC Canada Tax announced this week: All staff can […]

PwC’s Latest PCAOB Inspection Report Is Fairly Unspectacular, Part II
Let’s keep plowing through this pile of 2018 PCAOB inspection reports and take a look at how PwC auditors did during the 2017 inspection season. PwC auditors haven’t had a lot of great press lately: we had the Mattel accounting cover-up; Brandon Sprankle spectacularly violating independence rules, resulting in PwC being fined $7.9 million by […]

PwC Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Last week we told you guys about Deloitte Ireland helping a longtime PwC tax director achieve his dream of becoming a Big 4 partner. In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we head to Switzerland, where a PwCer-turned-Deloitter is coming back home to Papa Whiskey Charlie. Richard Geldart rejoined PwC […]

PwC and KPMG Have the FRC Breathing Down Their Necks
The U.K.’s audit cops are curious as to why Eddie Stobart Logistics’ 2018 profits were overstated by £2 million, which resulted in shares of the company being suspended last August, a delay in publishing its 2019 interim results, and Eddie Stobart nearly going out of business. So the Financial Reporting Council is now breathing down […]

TIL: Bob Moritz Was Reappointed PwC Global Chairman … In February
Seriously, I had no idea until tonight when I saw the news release, dated Feb. 24, 2020, posted on PwC’s global website. This never hit our inbox and I can’t find anything else written about this online. Nothing. Poor Bob. They couldn’t even squeeze out a brief mention on PwC US’s website? You know, the […]

Deloitte Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World” takes us to lovely Dublin IRL, where a longtime tax director at PwC Ireland has gone to the Green Side. Deloitte is pleased to announce that Ronan Ferry has been appointed a partner in its tax practice. Ronan will lead the Tax Management Consulting (TMC) team […]

Person From Switzerland Has the PwC Playbook Down Pat
[Translated from German to English] “When the times are good, [PwC] hires young talent en masse, let them work through day and night, and when it comes down to it, put the team out on the street.” — an unnamed PwC Switzerland employee, when asked what they think about the firm’s cost-cutting measures due to […]

What Tim Ryan Learned About PwC During the Pandemic Also Applies to Roofers
“I think what we’ve learned is that it’s always better to control your destiny when you can. And I want to be clear, we made a zillion mistakes. I don’t want to come across as we batted a thousand, because we didn’t. But I think what we’ve learned is that it’s always better to control […]

Big 4 Lawsuits: PwC and a Ponzi Scheme, PwC and a Rich Client, PwC and a Winning Appeal
PwC is keeping its lawyers very, very busy. PwC fails to dismiss £25m negligence claim over Guernsey ‘Ponzi scheme [Financial Times] A judge in the Guernsey Royal Court has dismissed an attempt by the Queen’s PwC to throw out a £25 million lawsuit against P. Dubs for alleged negligence in its audits of a Guernsey […]

Cybersecurity Experts PwC Get One of Their Subdomains Hijacked By Porn Spam
It feels like it’s been months since I’ve been able to write about something that has nothing to do with coronavirus. Kind of a nice feeling, actually, I’ve forgotten what that’s like. Anyhoo, when my esteemed colleague Bramwell spotted this story the other day, he made sure to send it my way because apparently it’s […]

It’ll Be a While Before PwC Offices Are Back to Full Capacity, Obviously
CODE-E can’t wait to see everyone’s smiling faces again. From the Boston Globe on May 6: Many [Greater Boston area] employers are also thinking about phased approaches, for their own workforces. Take what’s happening at PwC’s Seaport office, where more than 3,000 people worked before COVID-19 arrived. John Farina, PwC’s Northeast managing partner, is planning […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part IV
In our latest installment of “Competitive Poaching From Around the World,” we travel to Scotland for some Big 4-on-Big 4 action. And it involves our favorite poaching rivalry: PwC vs. KPMG. This time KPMG of the Scottish variety did a little shopping at PwC. While not a press release, here’s an excerpt from a post […]

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 […]

Here’s What We Know About PwC’s Summer Internship Situation
Last week we learned that PwC was taking its summer internships digital, much to the chagrin of at least one guy who wrote us and called it a “big cost cutting measure that none of us are happy about.” He sent us a screenshot of the email he got from his future employer, but since […]

PwC Australia Staffers Looking at Pay Cuts of Up to 40%
Another day, another big accounting firm slashing staff salaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. This time it’s PwC Australia. At least P. Dubs hasn’t laid anyone off (yet) like KPMG Australia did. The Australian Financial Review reported today: Big four consulting firm PwC will cut the hours and pay of under-utilised staff by up to 40 […]

PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz’s Work-From-Home Setup: An iPad, Laptop, No Monitors, Notepads Galore
BoMo took to IG yesterday to show PwCers his work-from-home battlestation, and to be honest, it’s more befitting of a first-year making $55,000 than the global chairman of the second-largest accounting firm in the world. In fact, every person who has recently posted their WFH setup on Reddit has a snazzier workspace than BoMo. To […]

Let’s Count How Many Different Sports You Can Play at PwC Chairman Tim Ryan’s House
We know PwC Chairman Tim Ryan is a workout fiend who loves playing and watching hockey. But judging by a photo he posted on Twitter a couple weeks ago, he and his kids love A LOT of other sports too. Shortly after PwC announced that it was closing its offices and going into work-from-home mode […]

KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts II and III
Back about seven or eight years ago, there was no bigger rivalry among the Big 4 than PwC vs. KPMG. The House of Klynveld was constantly trying to steal P. Dubs’ audit clients and KPMG pretty much became PwC’s personal farm system for partners and directors. Between 2011 and 2013, there were at least nine […]

Death of PwC Indonesia Staffer Marks Possible First Big 4 Coronavirus Casualty
Sad news out of Indonesia, as a member of the PwC family has seemingly lost his battle with coronavirus. This is the first suspected COVID-19-related death we are aware of involving an employee of a Big 4 firm. PwC Indonesia Territory Senior Partner Irhoan Tanudiredja released a statement in which the staffer is not named; […]

EY, PwC Jumping On the Mandatory Work-From-Home Bandwagon Due to COVID-19
Thanks to a tipster, here’s the email EY U.S. Chair Kelly Grier sent to all EYers Sunday evening regarding where they’ll be working for the foreseeable future: I’m reaching out this evening to express my recognition and concern for the evolving situation involving COVID-19 and the complexity and uncertainty it’s causing across our daily lives. […]

Apparently, PwC NYC Staffer Is a COVID-19 Victim
According to a post on r/accounting, PwC closed its two offices in New York City this weekend after a NYC employee tested positive for the coronavirus. Covid19 case at pwc NYC office from Accounting Also, posts on Reddit and Fishbowl have indicated other cases of COVID-19 in Big 4 U.S. offices, which we haven’t confirmed […]

CohnReznick Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Another week, another non-Big 4 firm letting the media know that it just hired someone from the Big 4. This time, CohnReznick was the poacher, and once again, PwC was the poachee: CohnReznick LLP, one of the leading advisory, assurance, and tax firms in the United States, today [March 3] announced that Michael Staub has joined […]

This PwC Napping Pod Is the Dumbest Thing We’ve Seen Since Gary Spivey’s Hair
Anyone see the resemblance? https://www.instagram.com/p/B9U5w5sgEaz/

The Olds vs. PwC: $11.625 Million Settlement Reached In Age Discrimination Case
A lawsuit filed almost four years ago by two accountants who claimed that the hiring policies at PwC discriminate against applicants over the age of 40 from landing entry-level positions at the firm is finally coming to an end. And the Olds got PwC to settle. Law.com reported today: PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $11.625 […]

Honkamp Krueger Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Being raked through the coals for the last 48-plus hours on Reddit after an ex-PwC auditor in New York posted that their ass was grabbed at a 2017 holiday party by a colleague who was later promoted, even after an internal firm investigation into the alleged victim’s sexual harassment claim found the ass grabber was […]

The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: PwC #36 (2020)
Welcome back to our recap of the six public accounting firms that made the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Last week we featured Plante Moran (#21), EY (#25), and KPMG (#32). We’ve got three more to give you this week, starting with a firm best known recently for its red pillows, […]

Rumor of the Day: PwC No Longer Pays Out a $20K Elijah Watt Sells Award Bonus
I mean, it’s on Reddit so it must be true. Let’s take a look. Seen talk of this within the last half year and thought I should make a thread to let people know. You can still get a CPA pass bonus of 6k (or 5k, apparently it depends on line of service), but they […]

Life at PwC Involves Again Not Giving ‘La La Land’ the Oscar For Best Picture
I know I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I just wanted to congratulate PwC for not screwing up an Academy Awards show for the third straight year. People seem to have lost interest in the PwC accountants at the Oscars since the debacle on Feb. 26, 2017, the night Tim Ryan was […]

Lawsuit: Mattel Shareholders Are Holding PwC’s Feet to the Fire
Once the Wall Street Journal broke the story last November that Mattel’s finance team and PwC auditors reportedly buried an accounting error that affected the toy giant’s financial results toward the end of 2017, you knew there would be some fallout. First, Bloomberg followed the WSJ report by writing that the PCAOB would be investigating […]

(UPDATE) Auditor Swap: Bubble Popped On EY’s Engagement with Sealed Air Corp.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Aug. 15, 2019. Update is at the bottom of this article. Bubble Wrap maker Sealed Air Corp. disclosed in a securities filing earlier this week that it dumped EY as its external auditor and hired PwC, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Now, EY losing an audit […]

Cherry Bekaert Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Another PwCer is on the move, as a former tax director in personal financial services has been hired to make it rain at Cherry Bekaert. Growth-focused and nationally acclaimed public accounting firm Cherry Bekaert LLP is proud to welcome Michael B. Vidal, CPA, JD, as a Tax Partner based in Cherry Bekaert’s South Florida practice. As […]

Life as a Super Bowl Winner Is Probably Much Better Than Life at PwC
I’m just spitballin’ here, but I don’t think Kansas City Chiefs starting defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon is regretting his decision to pursue a career in the NFL than a career in public accounting. The 6-foot-7, 289-pound Kpassagnon had two tackles in the Chiefs 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on […]

Here’s a Cringeworthy Coopers & Lybrand Super Bowl Ad From 1993
Super Bowl ads usually fall into one of five categories: ones that make you laugh, ones that get you in the feels, ones that elicit no feelings whatsoever, ones that make you think, and ones that make you cringe. (We’re looking at you, Intuit.) This ad from Coopers & Lybrand (one of PwC’s parental units), […]

Sometimes Life at PwC Involves Bad Improvisation
I don’t think we’ll be seeing Sarah and Rod on Who’s Line Is It Anyway? anytime soon. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Th2EegYeD/ Kristen Rampe needs to give the people over at PwC some lessons. And by the way, I’ve had the Intelligent Process Automation IPA. It sucks. Way too malty, with an odd metallic finish.

Moss Adams Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Nothing new to report on the recent data breach at Moss Adams, but here’s some MA news we missed last month during our holiday lull: They got a guy from PwC. Jason Emmons is now a partner at Moss Adams, and according to his LinkedIn profile, he’s been providing services to customers in a professional […]

Former PwC Global Chairman Dennis Nally Has Got Himself a New Gig
It seems to be a right of passage for former Big 4 chairmen and CEOs to eventually end up on a public company’s board of directors. We saw two such instances last year: After Mark Weinberger retired from EY, he joined the board of MetLife. And former Deloitte CEO and current WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert […]

Even During Holiday Time Off, PwC Partner Can’t Take a Break From PwC
Work seems to follow Bhushan Sethi, partner and joint global leader of PwC’s People & Organization practice, everywhere he goes, even to Santiago, Chile for a holiday family vacation. Arrived in Santiago for family vacation and one of the first things we see coming out of the airport is not the Andes but….#teampwc #pwctakesabreak pic.twitter.com/nsEtZMUZeJ […]

Move Over @MickelsonHat, a PwC Pillow Is Taking the Social Media World By Storm
Meh, not really. In fact @pwcpillow on Instagram is kinda lame. No crazy hijinks like setting fire to a blue Phil KPMG hat or pranking PwC’s favorite robot buddy, CODE-E. But I thought this was a little amusing: View this post on Instagram A post shared by @vp_pillow View this post on Instagram A post […]

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 […]

‘Big R’ Restatements Are Quite the Thing For PwC Audit Clients
All the Tesla haters are having a field day with this on Twitter. The Wall Street Journal reported today: [PwC] has had a streak of accounting problems surface recently at U.S. companies it audits, including an uptick in high-profile restatements. Its clients account for three of the five biggest restatements so far this year, measured […]

PwC Would Appreciate It If Staff Would Stop Getting Drunk In the Office, Thx
In a former office of mine that shall remain nameless, we had a liquor cabinet. Working long hours, it wasn’t unheard of for my colleague and me to pour ourselves a drink at 5 on the dot, sipping vodka Red Bull as we tied up the day’s tasks. The arrangement worked well as we got […]

Tim Ryan Isn’t Worried About Poaching at PwC Because of Heart or Something
“We spend about half a billion dollars a year on upskilling our employees. A big part of our [leadership team] debate three years ago [was] well, if we make our employees more relevant then they’ll get stolen. What we’ve seen is the contrary. We’re investing in our employees—we’re leading with our heart, we’re leading with […]

EisnerAmper Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Brent Lipschultz has boomeranged back to EisnerAmper after a four-year layover at PwC where he was a partner in the firm’s Personal Financial Services practice. Lipschultz, who has been a guest on CNBC a time or two to talk about taxes, investor confidence, and a bunch of other wealth advisory stuff, has re-emerged at EA […]

Uh-Oh, PwC, You’ve Gotten the Attention of the PCAOB
Somebody at the PCAOB must have read the Wall Street Journal article last week about Mattel and its auditor PwC allegedly burying an accounting error tied to Mattel’s ownership of Thomas & Friends because everyone’s favorite mess of an audit regulator is reviewing PwC’s work, according to Bloomberg, and probably whether the firm broke any […]

PwC Probably Did Celebrate When It Helped Mattel Cover Up an Accounting Error
By now you guys have probably read the Wall Street Journal article yesterday that explains what Mattel and PwC did to bury accounting issues related to the value of the Thomas & Friends show for kids. If for some reason you’ve been too busy to surf the web or dick around on Reddit in the […]

Weaver Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Today we have another example of a big fish in a small pond. The small pond being the brand spankin’ new Weaver office in Oklahoma City. The big fish is Zeeshan Khan, who is no longer representing the autumnal hues of PwC. The national accounting firm Weaver, one of the 35 largest certified public accounting firms […]

Dallas Jury Convicts Amber Guyger of Murdering PwC Accountant Botham Jean; Ex-Cop Given 10 Years to Think About Her Choices
A jury of eight women and four men sentenced former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison on Oct. 2 for killing PwC Dallas accountant Botham Jean, a day after the jurors convicted her of murder. The jurors—five of whom are black, five are Hispanic or Asian, and two who are white—only […]

PwC Earns Record Revenue of $42.4 Billion In FY 2019, Is Still the First Loser
Another Big 4 accounting firm has touted that it made more money in fiscal year 2019 than ever before. First, it was EY. Then it was Deloitte. Now today, PwC sent out its own masturbatory congratulatory press release, saying it achieved a record $42.4 billion in global revenue for the year ending June 30. That’s […]

PwC Fined $7.9 Million By the SEC for Making Pretty Dumb and Obvious Independence Violations
About a month ago, we chided RSM US for being fined $950,000 by the SEC for getting caught providing non-audit services to audit clients, saying that a firm like RSM should’ve known better. But PwC got busted today by the SEC for also doing non-audit work for audit clients, which pretty much reinforces how shady […]

PwC Equity Partner Pay Isn’t Too Shabby In the U.K.
Equity partners at PwC in the U.K. didn’t quite get the haul that their fellow equity partners at Deloitte U.K. got recently, but let’s just say they aren’t going hungry anytime soon. From the Financial Times: More than 900 equity partners, who share in PwC UK’s profits, will receive an average £765,000 for the year […]

Ex-Cop Who Killed PwC Accountant Botham Jean *Will* Stand Trial In Dallas County
District Judge Tammy Kemp made her decision a short time ago, rejecting the request from the attorneys of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who shot and killed PwC accountant Botham Jean last September, to move her murder trial out of Dallas County. #BREAKING: Judge rules Amber Guyger's murder trial will remain in Dallas, […]