When accounting goes unaccounted for
Michel Barnier delayed things for a week – not his choice – but your anxiety should subside tomorrow:
Internal markets commissioner Barnier will present his audit reform proposals to European Parliament tomorrow, one week later than planned. […] Headline proposals include pure audit firms, mandatory joint audit and mandatory rotation, but critics claim the measures would not address Barnier’s proclaimed objectives.
Barnier’s audit reform unveiled tomorrow [Accountancy Age]
Welcome back from the turkey coma, kids, I had to take an extra day just to shake it off but all is well now and we’re totally ready for action, at least until I take half a week off for my birthday in two weeks. Ah, life is good.
Anyway, a desperate plea for advice we received over the weekend got me thinking – I figure it’s about time we set some ground rules for writing us for advice. Why we’ve waited two years to do this is beyond me but I don’t run the show so let’s forget that part.
Caleb was concerned by publishing said letter, I might come off as a judgmental, xenophobic prick (isn’t that the brand I’ve worked so hard to craft? Oh well) so I will refrain from publishing it to maintain some sense of decency and openness to all types and cultures don’t really have an issue with foreigners with poor English comprehension, lost little sheep or clueless accounting students; if I did, I would’ve quit this gig to write a racy sex blog a long time ago. I do, however, have an issue with lazy ass people who expect to be hand-fed the answers by us as if we don’t have anything better to do.
NOW, since you probably think I’m a dick at this point, I need to be clear when I say that I LOVE the advice component of this site. It has turned into an unexpected bright point among the lame Hans Hoogervorst jokes and Caleb’s Grover Norquist obsession, and I’m constantly both delighted and disturbed by the reactions in our comment section. You guys have proven yourselves to be mostly useful, sometimes funny and generally helpful to your fellow capital market servants seeking wisdom, and that part is great. So great that I don’t mind so much that so many of the questions we get tend to be very similar.
Keeping in mind, of course, that though we were all told how special we were when we were little, there are really a limited number of scenarios a young accountant might need help navigating. Low GPA, no Big 4 offers. A couple of offers to consider, no idea which to take. High GPA, low social skills, you get it.
But here’s a tip. We’ve been doing this so long that chances are, we’ve covered a scenario similar to yours. So your first best friend is the search bar. You will find this on the upper right-hand corner of the website just under whatever ad we’re running at that time. Type in whatever you are looking for, “compensation,” “opportunities,” “Caleb’s embarrassing affinity for wearing Brazilian women’s underwear,” whatever. If we’ve written about it, you’ll find it. If we haven’t, you won’t. Try to be vague, so instead of searching for “Caleb’s embarrassing affinity for wearing Brazilian women’s underwear,” try “Brazilian underwear” and you might have better luck.
Your second BFF is our comprehensive, all-encompassing tagging system. You may have noticed by now that both Caleb and I enjoy employing useless, often one-time-use tags just for the sake of continuing whatever joke we cracked ourselves up over when we wrote the post but we do also use tags for easy organization of information. Let’s say you’re interested in KPMG and PwC, guess what? We have a whole tag JUST for KPMG v PwC! Amazing, isn’t it?
Now, you’ve searched the site and gotten a good idea of what others are asking and are ready to write us an email. Awesome! We love emails! But please, let’s go over what is appropriate for an advice email and what isn’t.
Remember, we are NOT professionals, we are writers. In fact, some might call us degenerates. So while we know the game well enough to gently shove your confused ass in the right direction, we cannot evaluate your transcripts, refer you to credentialed programs, take the CPA exam for you, decipher your foreign credits, pretend to be you in a job interview or any matter of issues such as these. We don’t sponsor H-1B Visas, we don’t validate parking and we don’t hold hands unless you’re really, really scared.
In the same vein, we cannot draw out your entire future for you. So writing us asking for advice on how to get started in public accounting and realize your dreams of CPAhood will go unanswered. We’re not freshman career counselors. We’re also not mind readers, so know what you want answered before you write some vague email asking how to live your life when you’re old enough to have figured that out by now. To me, asking such broad questions shows that you’re a drive-by who just stumbled across the site and I’m sorry but I work for pageviews, which means I’m far more likely to coddle someone who proves they spend 5 billable hours a day here over someone who Googled “accounting” and didn’t bother to read any previous posts we’ve written. I have given up week-long benders to crank out this content, it’s offensive to get the sense someone hasn’t taken the time to read any of it before writing us. So don’t do that.
Are we clear? With that said, please keep ’em coming. I love you. Each and every one of you, even the trolls. Fuck, especially the trolls.
American Airlines Parent Files for Bankruptcy [NYT]
The parent company of American Airlines said on Tuesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection, in an effort to reduce labor costs and shed its heavy debt load. American’s parent, the AMR Corporation, was the last major airline in the United States to resist filing for Chapter 11 in an effort to shed contracts, a move that analysts said left it less nimble than many of its competitors. AMR intends to operate normally throughout the bankruptcy process, as previous airlines have done. The company doesn’t expect the restructuring to affect flights or frequent flier programs.
Diamond Foods says more lawsuits may come [AP]
Diamond Foods Inc., which is in the midst of an internal accounting probe and facing several related lawsuits, says it expects more suits will be filed against the company in the future. The company, based in San Francisco, is looking into allegations of improper accounting for crop payments to walnut growers. Diamond said earlier this month that its $1.5 billion acquisition of chip company Pringles from Procter & Gamble Co. would be delayed due to the investigation. It is slated to be Diamond’s biggest acquisition yet, more than tripling the size of its snack foods business.
Facebook Said to Plan IPO at $100B Valuation [Bloomberg]
Facebook’s $100 billion valuation would be twice as high as it was in January, when the company announced a $1.5 billion investment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other backers. The IPO is far enough away that the details may change, said Lise Buyer, principal of the Class V Group, an IPO advisory firm. “It’s far too early to accurately predict where the valuation will be on deal day,” Buyer said.
PwC defends ‘honest mistake’ in JP Morgan audit disciplinary [Accountancy Age]
PwC fought for minimal sanctions yesterday after it admitted audit failures in the case of JP Morgan Securities Limited.
Appearing before a disciplinary panel, it argued JPMSL shortcomings were to blame as it omitted to flag up non-segregation of client assets for the seven years to 2008, not systemic audit failure. PwC committed an “honest error” as it “strove to test segregation and reconciliation of client assets”, argued Tim Dutton of law firm Herbert Smith. Dutton said the firm’s penalty should be in the region of £500,000 to £1m, saying it would be “appropriate to keep the fine at the lower end due to mitigating reasons”.
Is the Judiciary about to Give the SEC a Backbone?* [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling’s old stomping grounds got the business from Judge Jed Rakoff.
Grover Norquist v. Ross Douthat on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge [TaxProf]
We’re still waiting for a real match up.
“The simple truth is that when you have two independent, highly competent boards, sometimes they will agree with each other, and other times they will not,” he said. “It’s not that one is right and the other wrong; they just reach different conclusions. The same would be true if I were to split my board in two and ask them to consider 10 projects. I doubt each smaller board would reach identical conclusions on all 10 projects, so convergence would require compromises to be made. Convergence therefore does not always result in the highest quality outcome. It has served its purpose, but now it is time to move on. [AT]
Did I say “Grover Norquist”? Sorry, sorry. By that, I meant, “the American People.”
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Hear that, Mittens? You need to do a re-write, or the the citizens of this great land will have you by the short and curlies. Get on it.
[via The Hill]
Today in KPMG is the PwC Triple-A team news, partner Erik Hansen has joined the P. Dubs Houston office as a risk assurances partner leading the firm’s Internal Audit Practice in the Oil and Gas Industry Sectors. I suppose it goes without saying that Mr. Hansen is pretty adept in the energy field, as well as auditing:
Hansen has served companies in the oil and gas industry on issues related to internal audit outsourcing and co-sourcing solutions, Sarbanes-Oxley assistance services, as well as other risk and control-related services. He has also served as an instructor in several KPMG training programs designed to provide partners and managers with the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective in the marketplace.
Enjoy Houston, Erik! Just keep your wits about you at the happy hours down there.
[via PwC]
Earlier: More posts on KPMG v. PwC.
Good morning and welcome back, capital market servitudes. If you’re a PwC employee, you may or may not have heard some rumors that I might be making an appearance at the firm’s townhall meeting this week to chat up Chairman and Senior Partner Bob Moritz. Well, I’m happy to report that, despite a number (read: LOTS) of detractors and an intensive background check, I am being given 20 minutes with BoMo to ask him whatever I want. The problem is, I’m out of ideas.
Of course, that’s where you all can help. If you have questions that you’d like me to pose to Roberto, then please leave them below in the comments and we’ll add them to our current list of inquiries. Maybe you’re a PwC employee who wants to know where all the holiday cheer is. Maybe you’re wondering what Bob’s job entails when he’s not writing painful letters to auditing regulators. Maybe you’re a KPMG partner who is patiently waiting to HEAR BACK ABOUT A JOB. Whatever’s keeping you up at night, just let us know and we’ll squeeze in as many questions as time will allow.
This may be your one and only chance, so don’t let this slide. Go.
Legal cloud starting to lift for Fastow [HC]
[Andrew] Fastow is now working full-time for the law firm that represented him in civil matters over the last decade, Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, using his business background under the job title “document review clerk.” “We’ve found him to be very intelligent, creative and meticulous,” partner Lee Kaplan said. “We just gave him a raise, but he’s making far less than his talents are worth.”
Senator Questions Extension of Tax Cut [NYT]
[O]n “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Kyl, of Arizona, said: “The payroll tax holiday has not stimulated job creation. We don’t think that is a good way to do it.” Moreover, Mr. Kyl said, increasing taxes on the most affluent Americans, including small-business owners who report business income on their personal tax returns, would undermine the fragile economic recovery. “The best way to hurt economic growth is to impose more taxes on the people who do the hiring,” Mr. Kyl said. “As a result, the Republicans have said, ‘Don’t raise the existing tax rates on those who do the hiring.’ ”
Grover Norquist: a misleading accounting of recent history [Fact Checker/WaPo]
Grover’s appearance on Meet the Press yesterday garnered a ranking of Three Pinocchios. That’s out of a possible four (which is classified as a “whopper”).
KPMG sets dates for UK claims on MF Global cash [Reuters]
MF Global UK’s administrator KPMG said the failed futures broker’s clients will be able to claim monies frozen at the firm beginning early next month in a move that offers frustrated investors some hope they will recover their cash. KPMG said on Monday MF Global UK clients can formally make applications from Dec. 8 this year and asked that all claims are submitted by March 30, 2012.
Are Fourth Quarter Write-offs Looming for Deloitte’s Clients? [GOA]
The Grumpies have been busy. They’ve found 24 Deloitte audit clients who they say are at “at significant risk for some type of intangible asset write-down in the very near future.”
MF’s Missing Money Makes You Wonder About Goldman [Bloomberg]
Six months ago the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said MF Global Holdings Ltd. and its units “maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2011.” A lot of people who relied on that opinion lost a ton of money. MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31. This week the trustee for the liquidation of its U.S. brokerage unit said as much as $1.2 billion of customer money is missing, maybe more. Those deposits should have been kept segregated from the company’s funds. By all indications, they weren’t. What’s the point of having auditors do reports like this? And are they worth the cost? It’s getting harder to answer those questions in a way the accounting profession would favor.
Ernst & Young on Auditor Rotation [The Summa]
FLASH: They’re not thrilled with the idea.
Appeal for EU to stick by accountancy reforms [FT]
The heads of several midsized audit networks have issued a last-ditch appeal to the European Commission not to dilute sweeping proposals aimed at reducing the dominance of the four biggest accountants and improving audit quality. In a joint interview with the Financial Times, the chief executives called on Michel Barnier, EU internal market commissioner, to hold his nerve as he finalises his recommendations for reforming the sector, which are expected next week.
KPMG’s Andrew Says ‘Significant Fraud’ Evident at Olympus [BBW]
KPMG International LLP’s global chairman, Michael Andrew, said fraud was evident at Olympus Corp. and his firm met all legal obligations to pass on information related to Olympus’s 2008 acquisition of Gyrus Group Ltd. before it was replaced as the camera maker’s auditor. “We were displaced as a result of doing our job,” Andrew told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong today. “It’s pretty evident to me there was very, very significant fraud and that a number of parties had been complicit.”
Ed. note: Need career advice or a last minute sweet potato recipe? career advice brain trust? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll stuff you full of wisdom.
Hi GC,
After two years at a national mid-sized firm I’m seriously considering a lateral jump to either another mid-size or local firm. Through some bad luck and my own failure to balance work and my parental responsibilities (aka, put the spouse and kids completely on the backburner), I have gained a reputation among some of the higher-ups in my office for not being committed. While I believe this perception is unfair (I get all my work done on time and on budget), hat it is preventing my promotion to Senior. I don’t want to be in public accounting any longer than I have to, but would like to make the Senior level.
I’d like to stay with my current firm, but I’m concerned that I’m in too deep a hole now to climb out. Almost all the clients I was in line to inherit have been acquired, and I haven’t been picked up on as many engagements as I’ve lost. So even if I get good ratings on my jobs, I am pretty sure that my utilization figures are going to be ugly. A blank slate, full schedule, and even the chance at making Senior earlier are very appealing right now. But is a lateral jump worth the risk? Which is better (or worse) on a résumé: 2.5-3 years with one firm and not making Senior or 2 years with one firm as an associate and 1 year with a different firm as senior?
Please help!!
During my time in and around public accounting, I have found the promotion from Associate to Senior Associate to be a fairly automatic process. Come to work, do your work, make yourself available to go the extra mile (even if it’s not needed), don’t knock up the administrative assistant in the coat closet at the holiday party, and you’re handed the title (instead of a paycheck). Several top notch and newly minted seniors jump ship for private, further justifying the promotion of average Associates to Senior. For you not to be made Senior in the normal time period, I’m going to assume you screwed up somewhere.
From the leadership’s view, public accounting thrives on firm loyalty and employee trust. Whether it’s justified or not, you’ve been labeled as someone that management cannot trust. Somewhere along the line you must have done something to challenge these fundamental rules. The majority of partners and managers still to this day believe in the mantra that “I went through busy seasons of hell when I was young, so you can/should/deserve to, too.” Silly or not, it’s part of the code. So if I understand your statement above regarding family and work/life balance, you didn’t communicate fully with your managers/partners that you needed time with your young family. More likely is that you didn’t make your own “sacrifices” to make the work up: working from home in the evening after kids are in bed, bringing work home on weekends, etc. Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t; what matters is that you need to accept the fact that your clients are being ripped from your ownership – this does not happen unless you’re dropping the ball.
Clean Slate.
You’re up against a challenge by staying at your current firm. Considering your attitude toward your career is, “I don’t want to be in public accounting any longer than I have to” you should work on your résumé this weekend and apply to other firms. The time between now and January is a hot hiring period for CPA firms of all sizes, but be sure to focus on the smaller, regional firms. You’ll have better luck finding the work/life balance you require. That said, do not think that you’ll automatically be handed the title of Senior this fall. A firm will want to see how you do as a experienced associate (how you work with management, the quality of your work, etc.) before trusting you to lead their associates.
Trust. There’s that pesky word again. Taking a busy season to prove yourself at a new firm will be a better use of your time than if you stayed where you are to fight the gossip mongers and labels that are undoubtedly floating around your office. Accept the challenge of proving yourself at a new firm – for the sake of your career and the benefit of your family.
While you’re sitting around the house this weekend, work on the following:
• Updating your résumé
• Updating your LinkedIn account (describing the industries you work on, add a nice – but not Sears photo studio nice – headshot, etc.)
• Researching the CPA firms in your area
• Digging up a recruiter’s contact information
Good luck.
Our resident tax nerd, Joe Kristan, touched on the IRS competency exam a couple of weeks ago but yesterday the IRS officially rolled out the red carpet. So, if you prepare tax returns but aren’t a CPA, lawyer, or enrolled agent, you now have the distinct pleasure of spending $116 to spend a few hours with everyone’s favorite test vendor – Prometric – whose proctors will keep a watchful eye on you to make sure your ostomy bag isn’t a secret answer bank, that you aren’t packing heat and your gum is appropriately disposed of. What’s the point of all this, you ask? IRS Commish Doug Shulman can answer that:
“This is another major step forward in our effort to enhance tax preparation service to millions of taxpayers. People should feel assured that the person they hire to prepare their federal tax returns has a working knowledge of the tax code,” said Doug Shulman, IRS Commissioner. “The majority of tax return preparers are reputable professionals but the few bad apples cause great harm to taxpayers and the industry.”
Got it? It’s for the good of the country. Just make sure you don’t have a runny nose on the day of your test. That’ll get you in trouble.
This just in:
Folks at GC,
Last year, PwC announced in November Mid Year bonuses that were tax free (you did a story on this). This year, nothing so far. They need to be called out for this. Mark Mendola: WHERE THE BONUSES AT?
Love,
Tax Sr at PwC
To clarify, this is the story we did and, correct me if I’m wrong, the bonus was not “tax free” rather it was a net payment of $1,000/$500 (lower amount was for those hired after June 30). As for this year, our little Tax Senior with dirty diapers is right. We haven’t heard anything about mid-year bonuses, from Mark Mendola or anyone else. If you’ve spoken to him and know either way what the scoop is, please let us know. Someone’s Thanksgiving may be RUINED if we don’t get to the bottom of this fast.
Provident Capital Indemnity Ltd’s former outside auditor admitted in federal court this week to participating in a $670 million fraud in the life settlement bond market, according to the Department of Justice.
56-year-old Jorge Castillo pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in Alexandria, Virginia, said in a call with reporters. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
Castillo admitted to conspiring with PCI president Minor Vargas Calvo to prepare false financial statements that reflected contracts PCI held with other reinsurance companies. Castillo admitted to prosecutors that he never audited PCI’s financial statements and that he was aware PCI did not actually enter into the contracts with other reinsurance companies listed on the company’s financials. PCI paid him about $84,000 from 2004 to 2010.
Castillo will be sentenced in a Richmond, VA federal court on May 22.
DOJ: Purported Auditor Of Provident Capital Pleads Guilty In Scheme [WSJ]