Category: News

Facebook and Twitter Get Used in a Penny Stock Scam

Before we can get into this particular penny stock scam, it would be wise to define the penny stock scam for the uninitiated. It’s a pile-in, financial porn pump and dump. These particular crooks decided to take to Twitter and Facebook to get new fish to buy into their easy to fill 2×1 matrix. Since Twitter is inundated with all level of bizarre MLM bots and pyramid scheme tweet spam, it’s easy to see how an effective a tool it can be in perpetuating financial fraud.


The Manhattan DA’s office says 11 of the 22 participants used Twitter feeds and websites to lure “investors” (read the fine print, people) to buy a bunch of cheap stocks they’d artificially inflated. They made off with $3 million and “investors” lost $7 million.

I use the word “investor” loosely. If you’re getting your stock picks from some spammy Twitterfeed that isn’t even run by a human being (or solely from one who is, so far you aren’t required to register with the SEC to talk about stocks on Twitter) maybe you had it coming. So far we haven’t seen the offending tweets, if you know where to find them let me know.

Penny stock scams are not limited to Twitter and even former SEC lawyers have been convicted of using them to take advantage of gullible “investors.” Like this guy, who brought civil cases against white collar criminals for 15 years in Fort Worth and ended up getting 8 years in federal prison for his pump and dump activities. It’s unclear if he used social media in his crimes but if he came from the SEC, chances are he’s more into porn than Twitter.

Filed under: doing it wrong

Facebook & Twitter used in stock fraud: U.S. prosecutor [Reuters]

Today in Hot Accountants: “B-Tag” Thinks First Date Sex Is Skanky, ‘I Love You’ Is a Compliment

Yesterday we threw up some accountant student eye candy courtesy of Cosmo’s Bachelor Blowout.

Thanks to Above The Law Managing Editor, David Lat, we’ve discovered even more gratuitous accountant chestiness for those interested.

This time the young man’s name is Tripp Davis and he’s representing Mississippi. Tripp has a few real-world years under his belt so this may be his last chance at superficial fame and fortune.


Some select details on the man who was a Tripp long before a time when we knew who the Palins were (God, we miss those days):

His buddies call him: “B-Tag, because I’m big, tall, and goofy!” [switch a couple letters around and you’ve got yourself something else interesting]

Relationship style: “I won’t date a girl unless I can see myself marrying her down the road. Then I jump into it.” [That’s a Southern Man for you.]

Melt-his-heart words: “I think ‘I love you’ is the best compliment a guy can hear.” [We’ll give him the benefit of doubt here.]

Sex on the first date: “Skanky” [Obvious lie.]

Girls going commando: “Sexy” [Is there another answer to this question?]

Do you manscape? “Yes.” [See our previous comment.]

Okay, so Tripp is a tall Southern gentleman and we’ve got the young Missouri college student. Since we can’t get ahold of Carl’s transcripts or Tripp’s performance reviews, we’ll have to go purely on looks. Judge away.

Mississippi Bachelor 2010 [Cosmopolitan]

Hot Aspiring Accountant Loves to Listen, Manscapes, Needs Your Votes

Whenever we can, we like to sex things up around here. Sometimes it can be difficult but fortunately, this is not one of those days.


This young chap is Carl Koenemann he’s representing Missouri in Cosmo’s Bachelor Blowout and he just happens to be studying the debit and credit trade.

A few swoon-worthy details on Carl: 1) He plays guitar and writes songs; 2) He craves being told that he’s a good listener; 3) He’s perplexed by a woman who thinks he should be able to read her mind; 4) Affirmative on the manscaping question.

Now some ignorant hack at the Riverfront Times thinks that young Carl is “throw[ing] all [his hottness] away to become a buttoned-down bean counter” but that is just one blogger’s shitty opinion.

We think (and we’re sure you agree) that there’s plenty of room for hot men and women in the accounting field. Not that we’re suggesting that Carl completely dismiss his chance at eating disorders or a career in reality TV but we’re sure he’ll have campus recruiters from all Big 4 firms drooling over him, so his career will be just fine.

Missouri Bachelor 2010 [Cosmopolitan]
Carl Koenemann: Manscaping, Accountant Wannabe Needs Your Vote for Sexy Man Contest [Riverfront Times]

Soon-to-Be KPMG Associate Bounces Back From Accountant Hate Crime

We just got presenting you with some options for dealing with the occasional dick at your job. It goes without saying that 99% of the time, confrontations at the office don’t resort to fisticuffs but as we’ve detailed in these pages, accountant abuse is all too common – both verbal and physical.

Today’s account of bean counter beat downs is actually a positive one, as Bryan Steinhauer – who is starting at KPMG next month – has recently passed his first section of the CPA exam after suffering an assault in 2008, spending three months in coma and “endured thousands of hours of speech and physical therapy.”

We should clarify that Steinhauer was not not beaten because of his aspiring accountant status but because he was “allegedly dancing” with some dude’s girlfriend (which is punishable by death in some countries):

The 2008 assault near Binghamton University left Steinhauer with severe brain injuries. Doctors didn’t know if he would be able to speak again, let alone if he would live.

Now, two years later, as Steinhauer’s attacker Miladin Kovacevic prepares for prison, the resilient Brooklyn man is poised to pick up where he left off.

Steinhauer, 24, is about to start work at the accounting firm KPMG, capping a comeback that hospital officials call “mind-boggling.”

“I’m ready to move on to the next stage of my life, doing what I was meant to do,” a beaming Steinhauer told the Daily News. “It’s the biggest thing for me – to reclaim my life.”

Steinhauer has reason to be confident. Last week, he found out he passed the first part of the notoriously difficult CPA exam – no small feat for someone who suffered brain injuries so severe his memory was erased.

So, in case you don’t think you’re capable of bouncing back from a 74 on FAR, this guy recovered from brain damage and no memory to pass one part of the CPA exam. Normally, we’d suggest Adrienne chime in with some words of encouragement here but we don’t think it’s necessary.

Bryan Steinhauer reclaims life following brutal 2008 assault by Serbian athlete Miladin Kovacevic [NYDN]

Vault Accounting 50: #31 – #40 (2011)

As we continue to mosey through this year’s Vault Accounting 50, we find a number of well known regionals in the #31-#40 range.

If you have any inside news, gossip, intern chicanery and the like for any of these firms, shoot us a message at tips@goingconcern.com.

31. BKD, LLP – Springfield, MO
32. Weiser LLP – New York, NY
33. Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP – Madison, WI
34. Amper Politziner & Mattia, LLP – Edison, NJ
35. LarsonAllen LLP – Minneapolis, MN
36. Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP – New York, NY
37. Novogradac & Company LLP – San Francisco, CA
38. UHY Advago, IL
39. Wipfli LLP – Milwaukee, WI
40. Beers + Cutler PLLC – Vienna, VA


Here’s the buzz from Vault:

BKD, LLP – “Competitive, well known”; “Opportunities for advancement adhere strictly to a set tenure schedule”

Weiser LLP – “Strong overall”; “In trouble, needed bailout”; “Great place for masochists”

Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP – “They’re moving up”; “Structured, suit and tie, no open-door policy”

Amper Politziner & Mattia, LLP – “Outside-the-box thinking is encouraged”; “Poor work environment, partners will throw you under the bus”

LarsonAllen LLP – “Progressive, growing”; ” ‘They do not reward’ those whose positions require more off-site time than others”

Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP – “Well respected”; “Benefits could [be] better”

Novogradac & Company LLP – “Large competitor in the real estate auditing business; specializes in low-income housing”; “Does awful work”; “Large tax practice, very little audit work”

UHY Advisors, Inc. – ” ‘More collegial and less hierarchical’ than at bigger firms”; “Diversity is ‘virtually nonexistent’ “; “In trouble, on the decline”

Wipfli LLP – “Partners are top tier for a small firm”; “Who?”

Beers + Cutler PLLC – “Pay is ‘well above the Big Four firms’ “; “Needs to have more diversity at the manager level”

And a bit of news on these firms in our pages:

• BKD picked up Grant Thornton’s community hospital practice in Witchita, KS this summer and a partner died of a massive heart attack in his office.

• Weiser announced their merger with Mazars back in the spring and we spoke with Weiser’s Doug Phillips about the combination.

• Baker Tilly Virchow Krause merged with Beers + Cutler last November and they are also picking up the pieces at Koss.

• Amper Politziner & Mattia happily (?) became the second half of EisnerAmper.

• UHY got out of New England

Discuss, deride and whathaveyou for the 31 to 40 crowd.

Accounting Firm Merger Mania: Marcum and Stonefield Get Together

Marcum continues its shopping spree, picking up Stonefield Josephson after picking up UHY’s New England offices back in the spring.

Stonefield, which had offices in San Jose, Walnut Creek and San Francisco, as well as three others in Southern California and one in Hong Kong, merged with Marcum LLP and was rebranded MarcumStonefield.

Terms of the deal were not immediately available.

Founded in 1975, Stonefield had 150 employees in its seven locations. Now, Marcum has more than 1,100 employees in 21 offices, most of which are on the East Coast.

Stonefield, Marcum firms merge [SJBJ]

Promotion Watch ’10: McGladrey Names 21 to Partner/Managing Director

Cake and punch all around, natch. And if you’re lucky, pictures with your McGladrey-sponsored golfer of choice.

Oct 01, 2010 – MINNEAPOLIS (October 1, 2010) — RSM McGladrey, Inc., and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP, leading providers of assurance, tax and consulting services under the McGladrey brand, recently announced the promotion of 21 employees to partner/managing director roles, effective Oct. 1.

“Our new partners and managing directors have demonstrated the power of truly understanding our clients’ needs and proactively contributing to their success,” said C.E. Andrews, president and COO for RSM McGladrey. “They display the firm’s core values of relationships, excellence and integrity every day in their interactions with clients, potential clients and with one another. It’s a pleasure to recognize their significant contributions.”

“These employees have consistently proven their ability to gain a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, aspirations and challenges,” said Dave Scudder, managing partner and CEO of McGladrey & Pullen, LLP. “They have used this understanding to develop innovative insights and expertise unique to each client and industry that we serve.”

The complete 2010 class of partners and managing directors includes:
Name Line of Business Location
Donnovan Maginley Assurance Florida
Doug O’Connor Assurance Illinois
Linda Dehner Assurance California
Steve Gradl Assurance Minnesota
Tasha Kostick Assurance California
Wes Getman Assurance Atlanta
Allison Egbert Assurance Boston
Kevin Vannucci Consulting Connecticut
Brian Holmes Consulting Illinois
Lawrence Levine Consulting Illinois
Dean Nelson Consulting Boston
Diego Rosenfeld Consulting Boston
Rob Frattasio Consulting Boston
Greg DeVino Tax Florida
John Majer Tax Florida
Tay Reeder Tax Georgia
Phil Wasserman Tax New York
Brian Blacklaw Tax Illinois
Mindy Cozewith Tax Georgia
Rebecca Sheridan Tax Texas
Jim St. Germain Tax Boston

McGladrey Announces New Partners and Managing Directors [PRLog]

Vault Accounting 50: Firms #21-#30 (2011)

Hitting the third group of ten on Vault’s Accounting 50, we see plenty of familiar names that would probably prefer being ranked higher but the people have spoken.

If you’ve got any news, gossip, cost saving ingenuity or anything else worthy of our pages on these firms, get in touch with at tips@goingconcern.com

21. Ernst & Young LLP – New York, NY
22. KPMG LLP – New York, NY
23. Grant Thornton LLP – Chicago, IL
24. BDO Seidman LLP – Chicago, IL
25. McGladrey & Pullen LLP/RSM McGladrey Inc. – Bloomington, MN
26LLC – Southfield, MI
27. J.H. Cohn LLP – Roseland, NJ
28. Eisner LLP – New York, NY
29. Clifton Gunderson LLP – Peoria, IL
30. Crowe Horwath LLP – Oak Brook Terrace, IL


Here’s the scoop from Vault, with the occasional comment from us.

Ernst & Young – “Quality people, quality audits, quality network”; “Grossly overwork their juniors, underpay their seniors”; “Arrogant” [Jim Turely strikes as a humble-ish guy]

KPMG – “Good international firm”; “Frat party all the time”; “Weakest of the Big 4; unwilling to take risks to change its culture” [What kind of frat? Tri-Lambs?]

Grant Thornton – “Youthful and growing”; “More powerful in some regions than others”; “Big Four wannabe; inconsistent” [And a blogging CEO!]

BDO – “Solid, respected”; “Trying too hard to be a Big Four firm”; “Numerous accounting scandals”

McGladrey – “Solid, well known”; “Known to treat individuals with disrespect; questionable management”

Plante & Moran – “Excellent national reputation—they do things right”; “Mixed reviews on training” [Twelve straight years in Fortune bitches!]

J.H. Cohn – “Relaxed,” “open-door team environment”; “Old-line regional firm currently buying clients—the finest reputation advertising dollars can buy”

Eisner – “Solid New York City/Metro New York/New Jersey player”; “More marketing than expertise”

Clifton Gunderson – “Solid regional”; “Small firm, closing offices”; “We still need stronger name recognition”

Crowe Horwath – “More caring than the Big Four”; “From January to April, [you’ll] work every weekend” (Does more caring mean free cookies? More group hugs? We need details!)

And a some recent samples from these pages:

• E&Y’s lead partner on the Emmys doesn’t get any action from groupies and the Shanghai office doesn’t care if you’re afraid of heights.

• The House of Klynveld recently got less-drastic makeover than PwC and Dick Bové thinks the Citigroup team is ‘an acceptable group of auditors.’

• One Grant Thornton office announced its Christmaskuh festivities early and Stephen Chipman encouraged employees to share the firm’s new strategy with loved ones.

• BDO opened a new office down in tobacco land.

• McGladrey rolled plenty of refreshments for their rebranding including punch that was eerily reminiscent of Jonestown and a freakishly large cake that allowed execs to show off their lack of chipping skills.

• Eisner played coy on their merger with Amper Politziner & Mattia at first but then admitted that they were making sweet CPA firm love.

• A Crowe Horwath audit partner pleaded ignorance on tax issues for his banking client because, well, the tax department is on another floor.

Earlier:
Vault Accounting 50 Rankings: Digging Into The Top 10
Vault Accounting 50: Firms #11-#20 (2011)

“Robert Herz has had a more interesting career than any accountant deserves.”

We probably don’t need to remind you that today is Bob Herz’s last day at the FASB. It’s a sad day indeed for many that have been addressing their poignant comment letters to Roberto for the last eight years.

How Herz is celebrating his last day up in Norwalk isn’t immediately known but we’re sure it involves making crank calls to the American Bankers Association, Barney Frank’s face on a dartboard and plenty of cake.


Not so surprisingly, there’s not much mention of Bob’s last day out there except for cheeky article over at the Economist that informs us of precisely nothing new but manages to give Bob a backhanded compliment and take a major swipe at every single accountant on Earth:

Robert Herz[…]has had a more interesting career than any accountant deserves. He began his tenure as chairman of America’s Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in 2002, dealing almost immediately with the fallout from the Enron and WorldCom scandals, which had been abetted by accountants. He was due to end it on October 1st, a sudden departure for undefined personal reasons, after a crisis also partly pinned on the profession.

Accountants “deserve” boring careers? Their choice of a profession automatically merits a long drab livelihood that involves choice of pen color, whether or not to upgrade the 10-key calculator on their desk and auditing Excel formulas? Forget about the rest of us for a minute; there are people who are ashamed to share humanity with Herz. It’s the man’s last day. Way harsh, Economist.

Beancounter there, done that [The Economist]

Here’s Some Stuff You Didn’t Buy at PwC’s Lehman Brothers Auction in London

Gosh, team. It’s been over two years since Lehman bit the big one and now all that’s left is bits and pieces (Barclays, pink sheets, Dick Fuld’s stonewalling testimony) and charges from the SEC that could eventually see the light of day (unless the sun burns out first). Oh! And Ernst & Young. They’re in the mix too, although some people we talk to have their doubts about any repercussions.

Anyhoo, there was a big auction at Christie’s in London today directed by the newly-branded PwC. After everyone got done ribbing the P. Dubs partner in attendance about the Atari design, the bidding started. Here’s a little taste of what’s been sold so far, courtesy of the Times:

• Corporate Sign from Canary Wharf building – £42,050. Bidding started at £5,000

• Gary Hume’s Madonna – £120,000 (most expensive item so far)


• A collection of five maps from circa 1720 – £1,875

• An 1870 collection of the works of one Bill Shakespeare

• Two etchings by Lucian Freud

• Photographs by Sebastião Salgado

• A 43.5-inch painted pine model of a 62-gun ship

Overall, the auction has topped £600,000, according to Accountancy Age but is still rising. You can probably still get a bid in if you hurry.

Lehman Memories Sold Off Piece by Piece at Auction [NYT]

Analysts Aren’t Concerned About SEC Probe of Vermont Hippies’ Revenue Recognition Policies

Somewhat related: It’s National Coffee Day. Does the SEC have no sense of timing?

Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc (GMCR.O) fell as much as 18 percent on Wednesday, a day after it said U.S. regulators made an inquiry into some of its revenue recognition practices and its relationship with a vendor, which analysts said was M.Block & Sons.

However, most analysts believe Green Mountain’s accounting policies are sound.

“We are comfortable with Green Mountain’s revenue recognition policy, the fact that it does not have control over M. Block & Sons, unquestioned management integrity and strong auditors (PricewaterhouseCoopers),” Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Mitchell Pinheiro said.

At least this analyst knows the name of the auditors. We’re looking straight you, Dick Bové.

Green Mountain roasted on SEC probe; analysts unfazed [Reuters]

Accountants Disgust Charlie Munger on a Multitude of Levels

If you piss off a billionaire, there will be repercussions. And Charlie Munger is not a typical billionaire.

He just so happens to be the BFF and business partner of the second richest person in this fair land of ours and since WB is too busy chasing tail with new friends, he recently felt the need to vent at the University of Michigan about, among other things, accountants and how they failed. FAILED US ALL!

The accountants utterly failed us. And by the way, there’s practically no sign of any intelligent reversal of the failure of that profession. I have yet to meet many accountants who are the least bit ashamed for their contribution to our recent troubles. But it was immense. Imagine when Enron comes down to the SEC and says “we want to write a little contract with A, and a little contract with B, and take all the profit we’re going to make from these complicated contracts over the next 20 years into earnings immediately, and put an asset on our balance sheet of $28 billion from signing two pieces of paper.” And the SEC, led by wonderful accountants who studied at great places, [says] “Why, of course you should have that kind of accounting!” What the hell were they thinking? How can anybody have any respectable understanding of human nature without realizing that the kind of people who were going to be tempted by that accounting were not going to be able to resist the temptations? It was disgusting.

Now you might think this is one of those situations where the old man says to you, “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.” This is bullshit. Charlie Munger is definitely pissed. He’s not putting all the blame at the doorstep of accountants but you definitely get the impression that if he could, he would.

But why? Why would Mungsy be so pissed? Why would he lump you in with likes of Jimmy Carter, Ryan Leaf and Andy Barker, P.I. (an accountant, no less)? Basically it’s because you people are a bunch of pansies, will politely nod to the whims of the clients you serve and that you’re a bunch of numbers nerds and that you can barely carry on a conversation with another human being let alone understand that greed trumps Debits = Credits:

Partly the establishment accountants want to please the people who are writing the checks. And partly the academic accountants get full of people who overdosed on mathematics. They want everything to be in balance. And they don’t think that that really isn’t rational when creating rules for a human behavioral system. They’re too mathematical and not rational enough when dealing with their fellow humans. You can’t give the average Wall Street CEO really lenient standards of accounting and expect the figures to be good.

Here endeth the lesson.

Charlie Munger on Communism, Botox, and Goldbug Jerks [Motley Fool]