Category: The JDA

Buy Nothing on Friday? How About Cyber Monday?

overtheshoulder.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
I’ve got something lined up for Jr Deputy Accountant this morning on Cyber Monday that I just had to repost over here. Normally it’s the other way around but I wanted to make sure to get this point across.


I always think about the guy who posted the comment about “you idiots worried about flashcards should have been the ones laid off” on a Ernst & Young layoff post we did here when I think about the crowd mentality that motivates bizarre events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
We did Buy Nothing Day in the hopes that you all would stay home Friday and save your pennies but I want to make sure my point is being received correctly. If you can afford it, go get it, no one cares. But don’t go just because the shiny advertisements are trying to seduce you with 60% off if you can’t even afford 95% off.
As I said on JDA this morning:

I will be doing my best to resist Cyber Monday since it’d be awfully hypocritical of me after evangelizing Buy Nothing Day but I have a vacation flight to catch in less than 2 weeks and only a few good shipping [sic] days left.
The point has always been this: if you can afford it, by all means, please buy it. If you want it and you bust your ass to pay for it and it won’t put you underwater to get it, have at it! Please!
I have “disposable income” down to a science and it doesn’t take a mathlete to do so: take what you need (I should not have to define “need” for you) minus what you make, putting investments and savings in the “need” column instead of dividing the take after needs – net income and viola [sic]. Go buy some shit.

Come on, CPAs, those numbers check out, right?
Like I said, I’ve got a trip coming up but no mortgage (or CPA exam retake fees. You know who you are — knock it off with the half-assing it through the exam already — it adds up) so I might need some crap for said trip. I’m not saying you should lock your doors and put your credit card on ice but I also have a job and residual writing income. Do you?
Stay away from Cyber Monday also if A) your boss is watching you and/or B) you can’t afford it. Otherwise go forth with my blessing and may all your security codes match your billing address.

A Thanksgiving Reminder from >75

turkey.jpgEditor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
For CPA exam candidates, the final few weeks of the year can be a time of extreme pressure and/or procrastination. I won’t name names and bust any of our CPA Review students out (you know who you are) but I can tick off at least 25 people taking the exam today and next Monday, trying to squeeze in one last part before the New Year.
So how exactly is one supposed to show up for an exam the Monday after Turkey Day before the tryptophan coma has worn off?


• Plan better next time: This is a terrible time of year to be sitting for the exam but unfortunately it’s also the busiest. More candidates cram into the final testing window of the year than any other window so if you’re testing in the 4th quarter next year, keep that in mind when you’re scheduling your exams. Schedule early and don’t get stuck testing the week after Thanksgiving.
• Prioritize: Do you really need to hit your parents house, your in-laws’ house and your best friend’s grandma’s house for Thanksgiving? If you’re really serious about preparing through the weekend (which you should have already been doing weeks before this), cut dinner short, stick to one holiday meal and spend your Black Friday studying instead of getting trampled in the Wal-mart parking lot. It’s better for your brain and better for your wallet.
• You might have to have a chat with friends and family: If you’re trying to get a section in right when 2010’s first window opens up, you will be doing some studying through the December holidays and your absence might cause just a little bit of resentment. If you’re serious about getting the exam over with, sit down with loved ones and let them know that you need their support, not their shit. They have no idea what you are going through unless you tell them to back off and give you the time you need to study. And if that doesn’t work, coal for everyone in their stockings.
• My final point is this: it goes without saying that the holidays can be a stressful time for everyone and we all know what sort of stress taking the CPA exam causes. Mixing these two can be a dangerous cocktail of end-of-the-year misery if you don’t stay focused and plan your time accordingly. And look at it this way, you might get out of having to wear an ugly sweater or two.

Buy Nothing Day. Just In Case You’re Off Friday (or Unemployed)

creditcard.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
If you’re trying to squeeze in one last section of the CPA exam before December hits, you’ve got four days – a handful more if you’re not running off to see family for Thanksgiving. Are you working through the holiday?
Instead of running off to the store to spend money that you don’t have in the name of “economic recovery”, how about “Buy Nothing Day“?


“We’re asking tens of millions of people around the world to bring the capitalist consumption machine to a grinding — if only momentary — halt,” reads the manifesto. “Advertised” as an international event intended to stop the rape and pillage of the planet in the name of consumption (or something like that), it doesn’t stop with avoiding the Friday after Thanksgiving sales.

We want you to not only stop buying for 24 hours, but to shut off your lights, televisions and other nonessential appliances. We want you to park your car, turn off your phones and log off of your computer for the day.

This particular capitalist wouldn’t do well without her BlackBerry and her credit card for a full day, it’s one or the other, with the credit card much easier to keep in my pocket than the device. But whatever.
Other clever ways to spend the day? How about Whirl-mart; an impromptu conga line of shopping carts in the middle of any large warehouse or retail store (Target would work in a pinch) much to the chagrin of store security?
You can even take it all the way and declare a Buy Nothing Christmas if that’s your thing. Why stop with Black Friday? It’s not like you can afford crap your friends and family don’t want anyway, so just don’t do it. Sock away some money and put it into something useful like gold ETFs or at least new gadgets.
It goes without saying that retail has a long hard slog upward this winter. In fact, some stores are opening on Thanksgiving just to get a jump on the holiday season, hoping they can squeeze out every little bit they can to make it through the end of the year. Yeah, good luck with that.

>75: What am I Supposed to Do With This Ethics Exam?

Editor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on a question related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.

If you are in an ethics exam state and trying to figure out how to pass it (first of all: fail), don’t worry, I’ve got some advice. An email from a reader who prefers not to expose his unethical-ness comes to JDA thusly:

I’m having trouble passing the ethics exam, I’ve failed twice. How can I pass it?


First of all, I’m going to ignore the fact that this question — by itself or to a casual observer not in public accounting — is pretty fucked up. You shouldn’t need help with this. I can understand needing an explanation on how to get your foreign degree evaluated (I still don’t quite get it) but this should be easy. However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll disregard that part.

For starters, the ethical thing to do would be a Google search on the ethics exam, not posting Craigslist ads offering to pay people to take it for you. But if you’re like most public accountants trying to get a license, you copy off of your coworkers. I shouldn’t have to tell you that. If I do, it probably means you’re not cut out for this line of work.

There are other things you can do. Some state societies of CPAs have resources like tips or even experts you can consult to help you. Again, this shouldn’t be hard, it’s supposedly your first mandate in public accounting.

It’s open book, there’s no timer and you can bring a weapon to wherever you’re taking the test (unlike the CPA exam itself). Why are you making such a huge deal out of this?
Abacus said the Wisconsin ethics exam, while being tough, just needed some diligence to get through. What’s scary about that?

If you absolutely run out of ideas, some ethics exams have a “Lifeline”. Here in California, if you bomb three times, you can call CalCPA’s Education Foundation and they might give you a hint or two along with three more chances to pass.

Give it enough time and understand the subtle nuances of the questions, don’t just try to barrel your way through it and you might pass this time. Good luck.

Not Another Task Force

GOVT.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
Our dear President has created a “Task Force” to handle those tricky problems like baby Madoffs so we can sleep at night knowing we are safe from the financial crooks robbing us blind.
Or can we?


WaPo:

Top Obama administration officials on Tuesday announced a new federal task force to combat financial fraud after deciding that the number and complexity of investigations linked to the economic crisis require a more coordinated response from government agencies.
Created by executive order, the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force targets fraud related to mortgage lending and modification, securities law, stimulus spending and the government’s bailout of the financial sector.

Meanwhile, in absolutely related news, ABC News discovered this week that Recovery.gov shows stimulus funds saving or creating jobs in Congressional districts that don’t even exist. There are tons of them so no one tell me that it’s a rounding error.
Oh wait, they admitted they screwed up and are now fixing it.
Back to this “task force.” Maybe I’m confused but don’t we already have something like that and it failed to get the first Madoff?
The Department of Justice-led task force will include officials from the SEC, Treasury, and Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sounds like a winning crew.
Attorney General Eric Holder insists that one of the task force’s main targets will be “Recovery Act and rescue fraud,” insisting “we will ensure that the taxpayers’ investment in America’s economic recovery is not siphoned away by a dishonest few.”
A dishonest few?
Like the 95 completely made up people on the Recovery.gov website who worked on that sewer project in Wisconsin?
Or the Georgia Head Start administrator who was advised to claim “317” jobs where his organization had really only gotten raises for its 317 employees?
The AP has been watching the stimulus numbers closely, and they continue to check out wrong. It doesn’t take an accountant, nor a task force, to figure that out.

FASB’s Final Word on Fair Value Disclosures?

silenced.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
Of the 111 comment letters FASB published on Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures: “Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements”, this one was my favorite:

Please don’t require Companies not SEC registered to spend any more money on reports under this rule.
Lloyd Amundson

Amen, brother.


The usual suspects left the usual complaints; BDO said excessive disclosures would be both costly and useless, Uncle Ernie implied it was an interesting concept but an expensive flop in practical application, and PwC prefers once a year disclosures instead of quarterly.
Verizon even got in on the action, insisting, “proposed additional extended sensitivity disclosures would unnecessarily complicate financial statement disclosures without providing any meaningful benefit to financial statement users.”
I think it is entirely reasonable to point out that FASB is feeling the pressure to converge and the IASB is encouraging slightly less optimistic financial statements. The IASB openly admits that it is under outside pressure to adopt such a stance:

Responding to requests by the G20 leaders and others, in June 2009 the IASB published a Request for Information on the practicalities of moving to an expected loss model. The responses have been taken into account by the IASB in developing the exposure draft.

The IASB continues:

The IASB will also cooperate closely with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) with a view to agreeing a common approach to the impairment of financial assets.

Since when is this for the IASB to decide?
Political influences are nothing new to accounting rulemakers but what happens when those influences come from foreign bodies far outside of our control? It is a known fact that the European Union has a large stake in IASB, so how can we be sure their intentions are pure as we move forward at their urging?
The Financial Crisis Advisory Group, an international body set up by the IASB and FASB to advise them on standard-setting issues related to the financial crisis, warned recently that that political pressure on accounting standard-setters posed a threat to “the very existence of international accounting standards.”
Integrity in financial statements? Keep looking, not going to find any of that here.

>75: Who Is Going to Pay for My CPA Exam Materials?

empty wallet.jpgEditor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
It’s a question I get all the time at work. “I’m starting with such-and-such firm, do they pay for your CPA review course?”


So! A commentator asks >75 the same question:

I did a bit of research, and it turns out that PwC is the most generous – paying for Becker + Flashcards, while E&Y will not pay for the Flashcards, and KPMG apparently requiring [sic] its staff to attend live classes offered by Becker, and have signed attendance sheet to get the reimbursement.

First of all, smarty, what makes you think pre-packaged flash cards are your secret to CPA exam success? If anything, it has been my professional experience that candidates who make their own flashcards do better than those who rely on a review course to make them on their behalf. I had a student who admitted his handwriting was so bad even he couldn’t read it but just the act of creating a set of note cards for FAR helped him reinforce the key topics. So just because you get a bunch of shit for free doesn’t mean you’re any better off than the guy who had to charge his review course or skip a couple happy hours to pay for it.
As you probably know, the firms do not discuss their agreements. I know what they are but I’m not telling either. That being said, in this economy, I’m not sure if you think you’re going to get a free CPA Review ride. Um, you did comment on a layoff post after all.
I deal with quite a few public accounting HR staff as a result of my job and let me give you a hint: there’s no such thing as a free ride on the other end. They are reluctant to hire if they think they will be used for a free review course and a CPA to sign off on hours like some cheap whore.
The firms are tightening their belts and they are most certainly being more conservative about hiring bodies to fill chairs and kicking down $1,500 – $3,000 for review courses. You might be sick of it too if you paid for staff member after staff member only to be abandoned the minute that staff hits 2 years. Those days are over.
My advice? Ask around but don’t count on it and don’t you dare let on that you care in an interview; HR managers that I know will instantly – albeit silently – slide your pathetic little resume to the bottom of the pile in favor of someone who has already started on the CPA exam process without their hand out.
As someone on the original post from which this question came said:

all of you, seriously, this is the most important thing right now to you?? suck it up and take the exam. it is not your god given right to get reimbursed for everything. and besides, you morons missed the biggest things about the exam and passing it – the bonuses firms pay to pass it. the reimbursement is the smallest piece of it. the bonus is the bigger issue. but you are so busy talking nonsense about flashcards you miss the big picture. you should have been part of the lay offs

Amen! (Someone please tell me that guy passed??)

New Material for the CPA Exam: Am I Outdated?

Thumbnail image for cpa exam.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter. See all of GC’s posts on the CPA Exam here.
As most of you know, my day job involves teaching unlicensed accountants how to pass the CPA exam so everything I’m about to tell you comes from experience. One of the most frequent questions I’ve been getting these days revolves around new material to correspond with the new year, so let’s debunk some of those common rumors about new exam material, shall we?


• Stop thinking IFRS is going to hit the exam in 2010. You have at least another year to procrastinate, and that’s the best case scenario. The AICPA said “some time in 2011” which means “when we get around to it”. Even when IFRS hits the exam its impact will be minimal at best so stop freaking out.
• Yes, new CPA exam materials are the best when available but keep in mind AICPA pronouncements take at least two windows to hit the exam, meaning if you take the exam in the first quarter of 2010 you will be tested on information released in June of 2009.
• Trust me when I say this: the AICPA Board of Examiners is cheap (no offense AICPA BoE but you know you are). Although review courses would love to tell you to get the latest latest info, chances are the AICPA BoE will prefer testing standard questions over introducing excessive amounts of new content. Sure, they test new things all the time but don’t expect them to overhaul the exam every quarter just for shits and giggles. New questions cost a lot of money and the AICPA BoE would rather recycle old questions than pay to create new ones. Use this to your advantage.
So, that being said, what’s the big deal about IFRS hitting the CPA exam? Stop panicking, it’s not as bad as you think.
IFRS is actually much more principles-based than rule based, which means you have a pamphlet to study instead of two dictionaries worth of GAAP. The AICPA is offering courses on IFRS for professionals or any simple textbook can suffice if you need a primer. However you look at it, the AICPA BoE does not expect you to know IFRS like an accountant in China. All they want to know is if you know the differences between IFRS and GAAP. Easy, right?
Lastly, if you have a review course, you should be able to request updates to the material as long as you’re a student. So don’t worry for the first two testing windows of 2010 but come June of 2010, ask for an update and you should be good. New AICPA pronouncements are released twice a year so ask again in December if you haven’t finished this thing by now.

Dear Richmond Fed, What Were You Thinking?!

stupid.jpgGoing Concern’s own Jr Deputy Accountant did a pretty interesting piece this week via the Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter (which brought us such fabulous bloggers as Option ARMageddon – now at Reuters – and Mandelman Matters) that might be of interest to GC readers, at least those with a lawyer bent.
Can anyone tell me what Richmond Fed was thinking?! Anyone? Please?
Anyway. Just a reminder, GC did LandAmerica long ago.


How did LandAm’s Gluck end up at the Richmond Fed?

“With her broad range of leadership experience and extensive legal expertise, I know she’ll make great contributions to the Bank and to the Federal Reserve System,” said Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker in July of the Fifth District’s new Legal Counsel Michelle Gluck. It leads one to wonder how thoroughly Lacker was briefed on Gluck’s sordid history at Richmond-based LandAmerica Financial Group previous to his statement. I still can’t understand why the Bank would hire her, maybe by the time I’m done with this I will.

For the not-so-quick background on Gluck and both previous and current employers, do check out LandAmerica: The final days appeared like a Ponzi scheme, The Good, the Bad, and the Less Bad for Richmond Fed and her bio that still sits on the LandAm web site:

“Executive Vice President – Chief Legal Officer Michelle has more than 20 years of experience in the legal profession. As General Counsel, she contributes sound legal reasoning and practical insights into legal issues facing LandAmerica. As Corporate Secretary, she oversees the governance of our Board of Directors. Michelle joined LandAmerica in 2003 after serving Kmart Corporation as VP – Associate General Counsel & Assistant Secretary. She holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan, where she graduated with honors.”
This Tuesday is the deadline for LandAmerica 1031 exchange victims (LES – dubbed exchangers amongst themselves) to accept pennies on the dollar for funds lost in LandAm’s bankruptcy proceedings. It is suspected that many Exchangers will vote for the plan, which guarantees at least some monies returned to victims instead of an excruciating court battle that many of LandAm’s unsecured creditors simply cannot afford.

For the rest of Michelle Gluck’s not-so-pretty resume and more musings on WTF Richmond Fed was thinking, head over to the Implode-o-Meter for the rest. I warn you, it’s ugly. Financial terrorism never is pretty you know.

A FASB Override Button?

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for panic.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
Over the weekend, I covered an obscure financial reform proposal that may mean taking away final responsibility of accounting standard-setting from FASB af “emergency” switch for use solely in situations of undue financial stress. This type of “escape hatch” might be familiar; the practical application of the Fed’s 13(3) rule left the door wide open for Bear Stearns and AIG.


In regards to Meet the FASB Override Button, I received a note from reader Ron with the simple rhetorical question:

Do you think a system this corrupt can survive in its present form?

He even gave me an out, qualifying the email with “No need to reply.”
Well thanks, Ron, but how in the hell am I supposed to ignore a loaded question like that?
In the article, HuffPo calls it “Civil War in Corporate America”:

Amid the ongoing financial regulation overhaul, the banking industry is hoping to pull off a quiet power grab that has eluded its grasp since the Great Depression, by stripping the independence of the board that sets financial accounting standards.
The mechanism is contained in an amendment set to be introduced in mid-November by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) that would move final authority over the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) from the Securities and Exchange Commission to a new body, a so-called “oversight” board, that would include the officials charged with managing systemic risks to the financial markets.

The Center for Audit Quality came back with a nasty letter to Barney Frank — among others — insisting that accounting setters must remain independent (implying that they have been all along). I assume that the CAQ has forgotten about FAS 157-e by now.
So do I believe in financial reform at this point? No, and I can’t say I ever did. Did I ever believe we could duct tape our way through recovery with a little accounting magic and some confident words from Tim Geithner? Yeah right.
And that therefore betrays my opinion on saving our financial system in its current form. FASB merely exists under the guise of independence, and while European accounting standard setters have a far worse reputation when it comes to allowing themselves to be politically swayed, something must change moving forward.
I doubt that an emergency FASB override button is a step in the right direction to that end.
But if they’re trying to sneak in accounting standard escape hatches, that means something must be working correctly with the currently regulatory framework – they wouldn’t be looking for ways to bypass it if it was totally useless.
Past GC coverage of Congress meddling in accounting rules:
Congress Needs More Testimony on Accounting Stuff They Won’t Understand
Barney Frank Doesn’t Legislate Accounting, He Only ‘Exerts Pressure’
Newt Gingrich Doesn’t Like the FASB

>75: Study. Sit. Pass. Get on with Your Life

Thumbnail image for cpa exam.jpgEditor’s note: Welcome to >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
Alright. So this guy comments and his question is too long and complicated to keep my attention. Kindly SUMMARIZE your question, send it to us and >75 will get to it when she stops pounding her head on her desk.
Now then, please pay attention.

I need help from some vets. I did my undergrad in finance, but spent the last 7 yrs in the family business, hotels. Always hated it. Being an owner, I know what it’s like to be the ‘man’ and having to manage a manager, i also know what it’s like to be an overworked slave to a business as a property manager myself. I’m effective as a manager, win awards, employee turn over below industry standards, profitable, etc…on the macro level as an asset manager, i have a pretty good business savvy from HR/training, finance, basic accounting, leadership, capital raising, basic auditing. In the hotel business, your inventory has a 24 hour shelf life. I can think quick on my feet under stressful situations, and think stragetically as well. So at 30, i have the business IQ of someone close to 40. I’m a worrier and 24 hour business dealing with public has burned me out as i like people, but i’m not that much of a ‘people’ person..though i can turn it on when needed. i have recently been diagnosed with ADD which explains, while capable, i had trouble in school.

Stop. Just stop. First and foremost: the CPA exam isn’t an IQ test so please remove that from the equation, brainiac. We are talking about discipline and how well you can plan out your time.
I congratulate you on your illustrious career but no one cares about that at the Board of Accountancy. You have to meet the educational and experience requirements in the state you apply to and sorry, life experience doesn’t count in any of those states.
If you have the units and prepare correctly, you can do it. But get all this “wordiness” out of your plan, just learn the information, sit for the exam, get 75s on everything and move on with your life + CPA.
That’s my humble suggestion.
As for not being a “people” person, congratulations, you’re already on your way to being a CPA.
If anyone has a CPA exam question for >75, let us know. I’ll try to be nice but at least informative.
Here’s the obligatory CPA Review disclaimer (I work for Roger, how do you think I figured all of this out? TT BPO 75 or 90, bitches).

Cutting Out SarbOx for Small Business? Here’s a Better Idea: Take the PCAOB…Please

pcaob.jpgHR 3817: Investor Protection Act of 2009. We’re going to stop worrying about HR 1207 since “auditing the Fed” was always a fundamentally moronic idea (even when I cheered it in lieu of ending the Fed outright) and worse, just here, since no one even knows what it means anymore) is on the chopping block now, and for some reason a ballet dancer with a serious grudge against the world is going after it. Fine, he’s just a little later than some of us.


HuffPo reports:

The White House is quietly working to undercut a key post-Enron reform, significantly weakening protection for everyday investors and threatening the administration’s image as a champion for financial regulatory reform.

I’m not sure whose image they are referring to but it certainly cannot be this administration’s (and I say that in the most politically asexual way possible). The only part that bothers me about this is the “quietly”, don’t make it so sinister, please.
HuffPo continues:

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been telling Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee that he supports amending the Investor Protection Act of 2009 — a bill designed to beef up protection for investors — in order to exempt small businesses from a requirement in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that mandates audits of internal controls. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in 2002 in the wake of accounting scandals at Enron and Worldcom that rocked investors and damaged confidence in the markets.

Accounting Onion explains the effectiveness of Sarbanes Oxley in a little more detail than we care to, and if it doesn’t feel like you’re chasing your tail yet, wait, we’re not done.
Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt made it sound as though investors’ balls — and our only hope of getting out of this mess — were instantly twisted at the news.
Call me absolutely out of my fucking mind but this sounds like a small business bailout to me, at least indirectly. Save small business the costs (and benefits) of extensive audits and allow them to pocket the difference?
Good. While we’re at it, fire the PCAOB to save more money.
The PCAOB seems to think that we’ve got an audit problem. I contend here that the problem is with the auditors, and how many of them are being asked to go in there head down and pretend they don’t see a thing? I talk to them all the time. Does the PCAOB? I tell all of them to take notes when they ask me what to do. You PCAOB people should really see some of this, you’d be absolutely appalled.
Skeptical CPA argues that this was bullshit all along and I agree. He shares a moment at a Houston Financial Reporting Symposium. The PCAOB’s own Charles Niemeier (CN) is kind enough to explain his agency’s uselessness:

Someone asked, “Are PCAOB CPAs competent”? CN fumfered that one. Someone else noted most PCAOB CPAs were “former” Big 87654 partners. CN has no problem with that, since only those with large client audit experience could inspect the Big 87654’s work. Hey, CN, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you. CN explained Sarbox was passed to prevent fraud. I ask, has Sarbox improved bank accounting? Some CPAs do what I call “disclosure” audits, i.e., they never dig into “non-accounting” data to ascertain the correctness of a client’s accounting records. For instance, looking at industrial engineering reports which might underlie a manufacturing company’s inventory costs. The Big 87654 is full of CPAs who do not understand cost accounting. CN reminded us the “PCAOB can’t reveal its findings”. I ask why not. Who or what is the PCAOB protecting?

I agree, they don’t know cost accounting. Do you know how many of them fail BEC every CPA exam testing window? It gets tiring.
The point is, I’m not sure this is worth bemoaning. Or maybe it’s just not worth caring anymore, they’re going to do whatever they want with accounting.
Worse, Citigroup, Bank of America, SunTrust, LandAmerica (the list goes on and on) all of these large, unstable financial firms continue to get unqualified audit opinions while 1,790 of 1,800 CPA firms have these guys breathing down their necks. Well not LandAmerica, they already failed miserably.