Category: News

Let’s Discuss: Best Accounting Programs According to Recruiters

Yesterday the Journal got into the ranking act with their list of colleges based on recruiters’ preferences. The accounting program rankings aren’t too surprising but we called in the friendly HR professional and recruiting maven Dan Braddock to discuss the rankings. First things first however – the pecking order:

1. BYU
2. Wisconsin-Madison
3. Illinois-Champaign
4. Minnesota
5. Penn State
6. Michigan
7. Maryland
8. Cal-Berkley
9. UCLA
10. Ohio State
11. NYU


What follows is my chat with Dan-o as he tries to break this dorong>: Okay, let’s kick this off. You sent me a link to some WSJ article about the school rankings based on recruiter opinions.
CJN: I did. Personally, I find it hard to take the list too seriously without Texas-Austin or Notre Dame on it.
DWB: It makes perfect sense as to why they’re not on the list.
CJN: Explain, that sounds like crazy talk.
DWB: This isn’t based on caliber of program; it’s a list of what recruiters find to be the “best” schools. Take a look at the list of Best Accounting Schools. First, those schools are huge; many of them are state schools. Recruiters get the most “bang for the buck” out of schools like this. Second, if you mapped these out, they’re schools that can can service as feeder programs for multiple offices. For example, Deloitte can visit UCLA and find potential candidates for their California and west coast offices. This removes the necessity to visit several smaller schools across the same geogrpahic region. Penn State services Philly, Pittsburgh, D.C., Baltimore, New Jersey, and New York City. Lehigh University in eastern PA is a much better accounting program than Penn State, but has a smaller geographic reach and a smaller pool of students.
CJN: But doesn’t the #1 school, BYU, buck that idea completely? Their enrollment is small by comparison and Salt Lake City is a relatively small market
DWB: BYU has more than 25,000 undergrads from every state in the country – again, national reach.
CJN: Fine but why no UT? The Texas market is huge and has national reach.
DWB: I admit, Texas is the one school that I was shocked not to see on the list – on the surface, it is large in size, has a well respected business program, and is nationally known. But dig deeper and it makes sense. Of their 38,000 undergraduates, only 8.5% are from outside the state of Texas. So applying that same percentage to the number of undergrads in the business school (4,500) that’s about 380 students. How many of them study accounting? My guess is not many. That said, accounting students interested in offices elsewhere (Chicago, LA, NYC) should have no problem landing interviews, as the local Texas recruiters from the Big4 blanket UT at Austin.
CJN: And Notre Dame? Why are they MIA? John Veihmeyer has to be pissed. And not just about the choke against Michigan.
DWB: Hahaha. I’m sure he voiced his frustration about both. He’s probably having nightmares about the most recent flop in South Bend. Again, it’s all about size of program. National name, yes, but when your business program is ~2,500 students in total…Also, remember that these rankings for best accounting programs is not just by Big 4 recruiters. This is everyone. Johnson&Johnson, regional mortgage firms, Disney, etc.
CJN: Interesting
DWB: Obviously there is some kind of balance in play here. As a whole, all of these schools are nationally known and well respected in the industry; there are no schleps on the list. For recruiters, it’s all about efficiency of time and finances. A hotel room and flight to visit a school where hundreds of accounting students are salivating at the opportunity to work for you is impossible to pass up.
CJN: So everyone on this list belongs on it or are there other schools that are missing that should be in the top…11 (?)
DWB: Considering their proximity to one another I was suprised to see both the U of Minnesota and U of Wisconsin on the list but no, nothing too surprising. Since it is college football season, the Big Ten definitely has the SEC beat when it comes to accountants (6 v. 0 on the list). Maybe that’s why they’re better on the gridiron.
CJN: OR maybe it’s because it’s the SOUTH. My guess is that people don’t go to Vandy to get an accounting degree.
DWB: I am surprised not to see a school from the South – no UNC Chapel Hill
CJN: Fair point.
DWB: In closing, I think it goes to show that US News & World Report rankings are not the end all be all for recruiters. Nationally known names, established programs, and large alumni bases go a long way.
CJN: Right. And a good football team doesn’t mean shit (read: Alabama).
DWB: Below the belt, CN.
CJN: Whatevs. Can you explain the pachyderm? B/c I sure as hell can’t.

The Top 25 Recruiter Picks [WSJ]

The 1099 Party Is Still on for 2012

If the GOP took the “think of all the trees you’re killing” angle, maybe they could have convinced more Democrats to kill the 1099 free-for-all. Unfortunately, they stuck to the usual “red tape is un-American and stealing our freedom” narrative and it didn’t impress.

Senate Democrats defeated an attempt by Republicans to lift a tax-reporting requirement that small businesses face in a move that would have stripped away $17 billion earmarked to help pay for the sweeping health-care law.

In a 46-52 vote, the majority overcame an effort by Senate Republicans to scrap the reporting requirement which was inserted to the health-care legislation that was signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this year.

The Republicans would have needed 60 ‘yes’ votes to be successful. Seven Democrats sided with the Republicans to support removing the requirement.

The Republican effort was led by Sen. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.), who has argued it is simply piling on unnecessary red tape on small-business owners at the same time as the federal government looks to them to lead the job-creation recovery.

The rule requires businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service payments to suppliers and service providers that exceed $600 in a single year. It is set to be implemented in 2012.

Senate Defeats GOP Bid to Lift Tax-Reporting Rule [WSJ]

Chipman, Andrews, Goelzer All New to Accounting Today’s 100 Most Influential List

Continuing on with “list season” Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting launched late last week and while there are plenty of new names, it’s still a bit of a snoozer since this particular list isn’t a ranking like say, the Vanity Fair 100. See, the VF100 establishes a pecking order that can be antagonized over for days and weeks and just about when everyone is done giving a shit (or long after), the new edition comes out and people can rage on how last year’s list was so much better.

No, the AT100 is more like People’s 50 Most Beautiful issue. Not in the sense that you want to see these 100 accountants, politicians, professors, etc. etc. in the buff (or do you?) but that the influence (or the beauty) is subject to your own, er, tastes. Anyhoo, enough with the fluffing, let’s get on with it.


Some notables:

Rick Anderson, Chairman and CEO, Moss Adams (new to list in 2010)
C.E. Andrews, President, RSM McGladrey (new to list in 2010)
Bob Bunting, President, IFAC
Paul Caron, Dean of Faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law
Stephen Chipman, CEO, Grant Thornton (new to list in 2010) – All the blogging paid off!
Dan Goelzer, Acting Chair, PCAOB (new to list in 2010)
Michelle Golden, Founder, Golden Practices Blog
Tom Hood, CEO and Executive Director, Maryland Association of CPAs
Jack Weisbaum, CEO, BDO (new to list in 2010)

Dropped from last year’s list:
Ben Bernanke
Charlie Rangel
Bernie Madoff

The list has its usual suspects including all the big dogs from all of the Big 4, Tim Geithner (get over it AG), Doug Shulman, Barney Frank, etc. etc. but there were some interesting honorable mentions (so to speak) on page 11 right next to Dennis Nally’s picture. Just so you know.

Accounting Today 100 Most Influential People In Accounting [Digital Version (registration required)]

As Unlikely As It Might Be, We’re Rooting for Ken Starr and Wesley Snipes to Be Cellmates

While Wes continues to fight his conviction (sometimes using unorthodox methods) on tax evasion tooth and nail, Ken Starr is ready to get on with it and pleaded guilty today to charges related to his Ponzi to the Stars.


Government sentencing guidelines have Starr looking at 10 to 12.5 years which is long enough to outlast the appeals that Willie Mays Hayes has out there.

Since we’re not at all familiar with how convicts are assigned their prison quarters, our desire for an awkward reunion between Snipes and Starr that includes debating over who gets the top bunk is merely wishful thinking. If it lightning stirkes, we’ll just chalk it up to the gods smiling down on us all.

Financial Adviser to Stars Pleads Guilty to Fraud [NYT]

No One Is Giving Up Spreadsheets, So The IIA Figured It Better Put Some Audit Guidance Out There

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

Many finance departments would grind to a halt if forced to do without spreadsheets. They’re quick, easy and inexpensive tools for manipulating and analyzing data that just about anyone can master.

However, these attributes also mean that spreadsheets create a tremendous risk, particularly if their results are incorporated into the company’s financial reports or used to support a business’ operations.

With this in mind, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) in June issued GTAG (global technology audit guide) 14, a guide for auditing what it calls “user-developed applications,” or UDAs. While spreadsheets are the most visible type of UDA, the term also can include applications like user-developed databases and reports. UDAs are “…created and used by end users to extract, sort, calculate, and compile organizational data to analyze trends, make business decisions or summarize operational and financial data,” the IIA states.


By their nature, UDAs present three types of risk. One is data integrity – the old “garbage in, garbage out.” User developed applications don’t follow a structured application development cycle, and lack any sort of change management or version controls – that is, any number of individuals may be able to update a spreadsheet. All this increases the risk of inaccurate data making its way into the application.

Next is the risk that confidential data is compromised. Many UDAs can easily be attached to an email and sent to someone who shouldn’t have access to the data.

Finally, there’s what the IIA calls “availability risk.” Because many UDAs reside on flash drives and individual PCs, they’re easy to overlook when the company is backing up data. Or, the information can easily be lost altogether.

Internal auditors can take several steps in their audits to reduce the risks any UDAs in use pose to their firms. A starting point is identifying key UDAs. These typically are those that are part of the financial or management reporting processes, or use to comply with regulations. One-off spreadsheets used on an ad-hoc basis probably aren’t key.

The auditors also need to assess the risks posed by the key UDAs. To understand this, they’ll need to know who uses the applications, and how. From this, they can estimate the financial, operational and regulatory risks the UDAs present. The more complex the applications are, the more embedded they are in organizational processes, and the greater their complexity, the more risk they present.

Next up is examining the controls in place around the UDAs to determine if they reduce the risks to an acceptable level for the organization.

Spreadsheets and other user-developed applications play a valuable role in many organizations. At the same time, they can expose companies to a great deal of risk. Appropriate management and control is critical to mitigating the risks they present.

Local Pastor Ignores Accountant’s Advice on Document Destruction Project

A US pastor says he is not “backing down” from plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, despite international outrage.

“We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,” said Terry Jones of 50-member Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center.

Actually, we have no idea if Terry Jones has an accountant in his congregation but IF HE DID you would hope he would consult an expert on these matters. May we recommend this:

US pastor has ‘no intention’ of stopping Koran bonfire [BBC]

Heiress’s Lawyer Says It ‘Wasn’t His Place’ to Fire Accountant-cum-Sex Offender

“Wally” Bock isn’t sure what you want from him, MSNBC, New York Post, Daily News et al. He’s trying to run a half billion dollar fortune of a lady who doesn’t want to leave the friendly confines of Beth Israel Hospital.

He can’t be bothered with trivial matters like whether Irving Kamsler pleaded guilty to sending porn to adolescent girls. And besides! It wasn’t even his call.


In his statement to appease the haters, Bock wrote, “I was never in any position to fire Mr. Kamsler; that decision was Ms. Clark’s alone. I did insist that he disclose his conviction to Ms. Clark, which I understood he did.”

How about that for an awkward conversation? It’s not like going door to door in North Hollywood telling everyone you’re a pederast but explaining to a 100+ woman that you sent porn to some teenage girls might make for a few uncomfortable silences. But Bock claims Clark was cool with it, so you best not get all judgey about it.

Plus, he got to keep his CPA. Although the past has show that the New York Office of Professional Discipline isn’t really too concerned with timely action.

Attorney for 104-year-old heiress defends his handling of her finances [MSNBC]

Of Course an Accountant Is the World’s Top Fantasy Football Player

As you’re no doubt aware, this past Saturday the college football season began and on Sunday the NFL kicks off their season. For many of you with a pigskin-crazed significant other, this means that you won’t be seeing much of him or her on the weekends for the rest of the year.

This also means that thousands of hours will be wasted by (primarily) men at work and in their free time, antagonizing over the players on their rosters* and coming up with lame trash talk for their upcoming opponents. For the most part, the gajillion of dollars lost in productivity and the strain put on relationships is accepted by society (there are exceptions).

Football is more of a religion than any of the faiths these days anyway. Plus, we’re fairly certain that men sitting on their asses while ingesting meat and watching freakishly obsese men (and a few athletes) sacrifice life and limb is all but guaranteed by The Constitution. Fantasy football is a mere extension of this phenomenon.

Anyway, there has to be a king of this geekfest of stats, laptops and greasy food and his name is John Rozek. And he is an accountant.


More technically, Rozek is “king of fantasy football by the World Championship of Fantasy Sports, the big dog in big-money, faux-football leagues.” The World Championship of Fantasy Sports (“WCOFS”) will be awarding $2 million in prize money this year which should allow some of the big winners to actually get laid.

Rozek (who won $25k last year in various leagues) doesn’t claim to be a guru, just smarter than the born losers he plays against, “You have to take advantage of people not making the best picks,” he told the Trib. “And you can’t fall in love with players.”

This really shouldn’t surprise you one iota. Looking over a mess of seemingly meaningless numbers, maintaining objectivity, impervious to distractions like spouse, kids, etc. when its busy and/or football season is what accountants so good at their jobs in the first place. It’s like revealing that an accountant is the best at stamp collecting (we’re sure it’s a fine hobby) or a World of Warcraft champion. Most people’s reaction would be, “Meh. I could’ve guessed that.”

Chicago accountant is world’s top-ranked fantasy football player [CT]

*Full disclosure: I am in one league and my team will be dominating this year.

The National Society of Accountants Has a Bone to Pick with the AICPA

A couple weeks back the AICPA gave its members the go-ahead to Crtl+C, Crtl+V its letter to the IRS about how certain parts of the proposed tax preparer regulations were a load of crap.

We just assumed that everyone in the accounting biz was on the same page here but boy we’re we wrong. The National Society of Accountants sent this letter to Treasury honcho Geithner stating that they don’t want any tax preparers exempted from obtaining a PTIN (among other complaints):

NSA Letter Regarding CPA Firm Exemption


What’s especially interesting is that the AICPA is not named in this letter once, however they are named specifically in the NSA’s press release:

Now, at the 11th hour, just before the registration process is scheduled to begin, some – including the American Institute of CPAs – are demanding that staff members of ‘CPA firms’ be exempted from the registration requirements. This flies in the face of why this registration program was set up. The point of the new regulations is to ensure that all tax preparers are accountable for their work in preparing returns, and that should include anyone who paid to prepare all or substantially all of a return, no matter where they may work.

The basic tenet here is that big firms will get away with letting the underlings preparing the returns not be held accountable for their (apparently) shoddy work. The NSA’s position is that if every single legit tax professional is registered then they can track down the shitty ones and the IRS can act accordingly. The NSA claims that the “loophole” proposed by the AICPA will let these amateurs skate the testing and registration requirements and thus won’t be serving taxpayers one iota.

On the one hand you might have been totally against the tax preparer regulations from the start but now that they’re unavoidable, the AICPA’s request for exemptions in some cases may burn the unlucky bunch that wouldn’t get to enjoy waiver.

An Accountant’s Labor Day Weekend Reading | 09.03.10

~ Calling it a day people. We’ll be back Tuesday to help you cope with the post-holiday depression.

Why the SEC Won’t Flip the IFRS Switch [CFO]
We approve of prognostication in all its forms.

Bernanke Says He Failed to See Financial Flaws [NYT]
About as close to a “myo get from the Beard.

Montvale: Police Blotter, Sept. 2 [NorthJersey.com]
More car trouble associated with KPMG. This time it was a stolen Beamer. With an iPod inside!

Who is short selling Medifast stock? [Fraud Files Blog]
A show of hands, please.

H&R Block Surges as Chief Says Firm Can Handle Mortgage Refunds [Bloomberg]
“Concern about potential losses tied to buybacks of home loans ‘is not based on fact,’ and reserves to protect the company against claims ‘are adequate,’ Chief Executive Officer Alan Bennett said yesterday during a conference call about fiscal first-quarter earnings. The call included repeated queries about claims, which have totaled more than $680 million.

‘There’s nothing that we’re seeing anywhere that would lead to the kind of phone calls we just listened to other than speculators that, in my mind, have probably sold our stock short and then stirred this up,’ Bennett said in an interview after the call. Mortgage buyback claims ‘are getting better,’ he said.”

The Truth About SAS 70 [CFO]
They’re worthless. Well, not completely.


I.R.S. Looks at Finances of Planned Parenthood [NYT]
“The criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service is looking into the finances of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, while the organization has brought in forensic accountants to evaluate its books.

The local nonprofit became Golden Gate Community Health on Friday, as the national Planned Parenthood organization stripped the Bay Area clinics of their affiliation, citing financial and administrative problems.”

Paul Hogan cleared to return to U.S. [CBC]
Mick is safe.

Peter Orszag Goes From the Obama White House to the New York Times [Daily Intel]
“Apparently, what that Times opinion section needs is another liberal-leaning economist to cheerlead for progressive economic policies from the White House — or one who provides another visible tie between the two institutions.”

Under the hood [NYP]
Tim Geithner gets the giggles and might have Tourette’s; Larry Summers called the shots on GM/Chrysler fiasco and NEWSFLASH: Rahm Emanuel says “fuck” a lot.

Dave & Buster’s, Inc. Appoints KPMG LLP as Independent Auditor [Business Wire]
D&B didn’t waste any time announcing their new auditors. As of now, there is no filing.