Category: Uncategorized

Deloitte Closes Reno Office, Employees Not Totally Munsoned*

Thumbnail image for Reno.jpgDeloitte is closing its Reno office, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. The firm isn’t letting any of the eighteen employees go, rather they will either work from home or at client locations.

Bad news is that we wouldn’t expect the community colleges in the Reno area to get any attention any time soon and if you’re looking to get in on some free donuts, law enforcement is probably your best option.

Deloitte firm closing Reno office [Reno Gazette-Journal]

*We’re not sure this is necessary but whatevs.

Trend of D-List Celebrities Abusing Accountants Likely to Continue

Thumbnail image for mark_paul_gosselaar_int.jpgIn a major win for D-List celebrities being able to treat regular people like animals, Kerry Katona, who reportedly punched her accountant and threw tea on him, has had the charges against her dropped, according to several reports.

Katona, who’s fame is still a mystery to us, will not face charges and will likely continue to enjoy the ability to abuse shiesty accountants until they are afforded protection under hate crime status.

This is troubling news as global economic conditions continue to stagnate, Mark-Paul Gosselaar-types here in America will likely remain out of work since the masses will only tolerate entertainment from the C-List and up.

The rest of the D-List community will no doubt take this dismissal of charges as a cue that regardless of where they fall on the fame hierarchy, their celebrity status will ensure that they are always right about everything. Including their dire financial situation and how they ARE NOT broke and the IRS cannot be right and everything will be fine just as soon as they catch a break.

No charges for Kerry Katona over accountant attack [Accountancy Age]

Katona escapes charges over alleged assault [AFP]

Obvious Sign of Fraud: You’re Having Sex with the Client

distraction.jpgIn case you young auditors thought you needed to have highly acute senses to detect fraud at your clients, you’re dead wrong.
Best thing you can do is immediately become skeptical if you find yourself trying to figure out the best posish for the client’s office supply room:
More, after the jump

“These auditors from the Big Four accounting firms are usually single kids just a few years out of school. What do kids in their 20s think about all the time? Sex,” said [Sam] Antar, who was at the center of a multi-million dollar fraud 20 years ago.
So Antar would pair “cute hot female” employees with male auditors as part of his distraction strategy. “In effect, I was a fraudster, matchmaker and pimp,” said Antar, who avoided jail time by working with the U.S. government, and now advises government agencies and businesses on avoiding accounting fraud.

As we’ve covered, the opportunities for accountants to get some action can be few and far between so this strategy makes perfect sense.
This will put many of you in a very difficult situation. We really wish the best for all you of in the getting laid department especially when it involves someone that would ordinarily be way out of your league.
But you may have to decide: Do you uncover the next diabolical Ponzi scheme or do you totally cave to the irresistible charms of the guy that looks way too much like Chace Crawford?
Who would it take for you to overlook a few million in misappropriated funds? Discuss in the comments.
Financial fraud — accounting for criminals [CNN]

CPAs Rank #6 for Best Jobs in America

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for accountant.jpgDon’t have enough corporate magazine lists in your life? Didn’t think so. CNN/Money’s Best Jobs in America dropped this morning and lo and behold, CPAs come in at #6.
Seem high? Maybe. CPAs did only receive grades of ‘C’ on “Benefits to Society” (you don’t keep people from dying) and “Low Stress” (‘C’ seems generous).
Also, CPAs only rank in the top ten in “Flexibility” but still managed to sneak into the top ten overall.
Continued, after the jump


Dubious, right? Money still makes their case:

Businesses began stocking the payroll with CPAs after major accounting scandals earlier this decade, and a host of new corporate accounting rules going into effect soon should ratchet up demand further.
Government agencies are also hiring CPAs, to monitor how well companies are complying with the new regs. Add inevitable changes to personal income tax rules and you have a pretty recession-proof profession.
“Unless Congress does away with taxes, we’ll always have work,” says CPA Lisa Featherngill of Winston-Salem, N.C. Some 33,000 independent CPAs also work for themselves, typically as tax preparers.

Debunk:
1. Scandals early in the decade? What about present scandals? Lotta good hiring all those CPAs did.
2. Remind us which agencies are doing a bang up job keeping companies in line with regulations?
3. Oh, and regardless of the certainty of taxes, this happens.
Maybe we’re overreacting. Perhaps they’re pointing out that if you’ve got a CPA, that gives you options (get crackin’ non-CPAs). Regardless of what Grant Thornton’s latest survey says.
So, if you’re a CPA and you’re happy, clap your hands. And discuss the list and why (or why not) being a CPA kicks so much ass.
Best Jobs in America [CNN/Money]

Grant Thornton’s Latest Survey Reminds Everyone That Your Chances of Getting Another Job Are Still Pretty Slim

Thumbnail image for Grant-thornton-logo.JPGGrant Thornton’s national survey of financial executives shows that only 1 in 4 plan to increase hiring in the next six months. That’s not great news but what’s perplexing is that the meaningless highly regarded Grant Thornton LLP Business Optimism Index basically told us the same thing less than a month ago.
Does GT really have to repeat the obvious message that no one wants to hear? We get it. No one can leave their job that they hate for another job that they’ll hate less right now because no one is feeling spendy on new employees.
Oh but GT isn’t purely a purveyor of bad news. Only 10% of the financial bigshots surveyed expect things to get worse. Which is a relief but not particularly interesting since the Business Optimism Index pretty much said the same thing.
It appears that GT is hellbent on reminding everyone that while things certainly can’t get any worse, they’ll probably remain craptacular for the foreseeable future. Keep up the solid work GT, we’re looking forward to next month’s reminder.
National survey of senior financial executives finds only 1 in 4 plan to increase hiring in next 6 months [Press Release]

Open Thread: Accounting Firm Outsourcing

outsourcing.jpgSince it’s been nearly a year since the Presidential election, the political football of outsourcing of jobs has all but been put away. It does remain a popular topic amongst accounting firms however as more and more works is sent offshore.
Now that the programs have been in place for awhile, the pressure to utilize the staff on the other side of the world seems to be increasing. This may free you up for more fantasy football or Perez Hilton but something tells us that’s not exactly what TPTB have in mind.
Plus there’s the whole time change thing. Maybe that’s NBD but staying up until 10 pm for a 30 minute meeting to coincide with your global counterparts doesn’t really strike as a party.
We’ve reached out to the Big 4 on this and we’ll update you with any responses we receive in a separate post.
For now we want your input and experiences. Is outsourcing working for your team? Does it even affect your team? Are the firms really concerned about new associates “doing more challenging tasks” or is this purely a cost saver? What do you make of the process on the other side of the blue marble? Are they being utilized effectively or are you dealing with impossible logistics? Okay that’s enough questions. Discuss.

Auditors, The PCAOB Still Doesn’t Think Too Highly of the Job You’re Doing

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Chuck_Liddell_001.jpgThe PCAOB is considering telling auditors how to do their jobs issuing guidance on communication with audit committees and a new auditing standard on related parties, according to Compliance Week. Not to worry though, they’re going to ask the bigwigs on the Standing Advisory Group for their $0.02:

The PCAOB also plans to bounce some ideas off the advisory group for a new standard to govern how auditor should communicate with audit committees, in part to establish some new guidance regarding communication about management judgments and estimates. According to a briefing paper provided to SAG members, PCAOB is looking for ideas on how to get past boilerplate dialogue to achieve more effective, robust communications between auditors and audit committees.

Auditors? Boilerplate dialogue? Is the PCAOB questioning your ability to ask substantive questions? For shame. Obviously Peekatboobs will be able to develop much better, non-boilerplate questions than you and then you’ll be required to ask those questions of the audit committee. That’ll get the job done.
Likewise, auditors, you’ve simply dropped the ball on related parties since, “financial relationships with related parties have proved important in recent corporate scandals, and the board’s inspection and enforcement actions suggest some auditors aren’t skeptical enough when evaluating such relationships and transactions.”
The infinite wisdom of the PCAOB is clearly on display here. Auditors, it’s going to become necessary that your skepticism is going to reach a physical level or at least the threat of such. Your skepticism in words and on paper is simply not getting the job done.
You’ll have to get Chuck Liddell to beat some people down or simply laying heat out on the conference table during discussions to get your point across, otherwise, clients are going to just keep taking advantage of you.
This will be the plan until the next financial crisis of course when the PCAOB will assess that the questions and methods developed now turn out to be boilerplate and ineffective and it’ll be back to the drawing board again. Don’t get too comfortable.
PCAOB Considers Rules on Communication, Related Parties [Compliance Week]

Deloitte Study Says That Half of You Aren’t Scared of Swine Flu. Tell That to a Backstreet Boy

brian littrell.jpgDammit people, this is serious. Deloitte is doing studies for crying out loud. Yet, over half of you still aren’t completely freaking the hell out over swine flu.
Ordinarily, we’d let this slide by but it doesn’t seem to be a typical Tuesday, so we’ll ask that you bear with us.
How about one of the finest entertainers on the planet getting the H to 1 to the N to the 1? Will this convince you that this needs to be taken seriously?
When a member of a heartthrob boy band that, for all intents and purposes, has been annihilated from popular culture altogether is affected, doesn’t that cause you to stop and think?
Deloitte studies, fine, those are totally meaningless. We’re talking a step below D-List celebrities getting sick. Please reconsider your indifference.
Swine Flu Preparedness: Consumer Pulse Study Fact Sheet [Deloitte Center for Health Solutions]

We Are…ParenteBeard

Thumbnail image for quaker_1.jpgWe know you’ve been anticipating the new name of the merged firm of Parente Randolph and Beard Miller like it was the most recent offspring of Bragelina and we’re happy to report that the two Pennsylvania firms have finally made their decision.
The new firm, which was officially born on October 1st, will be known as ParenteBeard, LLC. Sadly, we were pulling for simply “Beard”, if for no other reason, in honor of Ken Lewis’s sporting of facial hair to work, but what the hell do we know about naming firms? Web CPA quotes their reasoning:

“We selected the name ParenteBeard after considering the collective strengths and attributes of both firms and the significance of this combination,” said [CEO, Bob] Ciaruffoli in a statement. “Our new name honors our histories, while positioning the union as one firm, ParenteBeard.”

Still not convinced about the choice but maybe we don’t know the whole story. Perhaps there’s a serious case of pogonophobia among the top brass. If you’ve got better suggestions for the new firm’s name or discuss your own fear of beards, chinstrap or otherwise, discuss in the comments.
Parente Randolph and Beard Miller Merge into ParenteBeard [Web CPA]

Moss Adams Admits New Partners, Campaign for ‘Global Eleven’ Next?

How about some good news to end your week? Well, that is, if you’re a newly minted partner at the 11th largest CPA firm and the largest firm with HQ on the Left Coast:
Press release:

Moss Adams announces the admission of six individuals to the partnership in September and two managing directors. The firm currently has 250 partners, 52 of which are women or 21%. These figures emphasize the firm’s growth and continued acceleration of Forum_W, the firm’s effort to support efforts to attract, develop, retain and advance women.

All very impressive, and we congratulate the new partners on putting their asses on the line. ‘Global Eleven Accounting Firm’ doesn’t quite have the cachet we’re looking for. Maybe ‘Elite Eleven’*? Whatever, but we’re sure Moss Adams wants included in some sort of moniker. Leave your suggestions in the comments. Or start drinking. Whatevs.
*Read Moss Adams marketing people: You’ll never get to ‘Global’ anything until you get a logo out there that we can use for an image. Put it on Wikipedia for crying out loud. Crowe Horwath has an image. Get with it.

Caption Contest Poll Results: E&Y at the Emmys

Your winner after the jump:


Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for E&Y_emmys.jpg
“EY reimbursed me for this dress with the money that would have been used to pay your bonus“
With nearly 75% of the vote. A landslide of Iranian proportions. The rest:
• Two more Deal or No Deal rejects reenact their failed auditions for the cameras – 11%
• The sun never sets on a badass. – 9%
• To help lower the deficit, the Secret Service started selling ad space on the President’s “football” – 5.5%
Is money all you people care about?