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CohnReznick’s Golf Event Won’t Solve Gender Inequality

Posted on by Greg Kyte

Last month, top 10 CPA firm CohnReznick hosted a golfing event for women executives. The idea was “to get [women] more accustomed to a common way to do business among generations of male executives.”

Because so much business in professional services takes place on the golf course, our goal is to get more women exposed to golf so that they can reap the business benefits of the game in a comfortable environment.

The event was a success; they had about 100 ladies show up and got a nice write-up in Accounting Today.

But then this guy comments on the AT article:

It would be interesting to see if they would have a similar golf event for just men how many discriminatory law suits that would generate.

Good one, hgeyrich. They do have a similar golf event just for men. It’s called every other golf event.

Although I support CohnReznick’s Executive Women’s Golf Forum, I’m sure no one, including CR, thinks that golf is a panacea for solving gender inequality. This is partly because golf has been on the decline since its peak in 1997 when Tiger Woods won the Masters and Happy Gilmore came out on VHS.

There’s even speculation that bicycling is overtaking golf as the preferred method of networking and deal-making for professionals. There’s nothing like negotiating a merger while impeding traffic on a $3500 road bike, and nothing cuts through the bullshit like wearing spandex shorts.

I’ve never played golf, and I never felt like that hampered my career path. However, if I found myself in a work culture where golfing seemed important to my career or vital to closing deals, I’d love to have a safe and social place to learn.

Golf used to be a big deal in business. But so did a lot of other things, and if they all make a comeback1, I would support CohnReznick’s launch of the Executive Women’s Cigars Whiskey Hookers Cocaine and Swearing Forum.

1 Trump 2016.

Image: "Armedforces jeffery tee shot" by Master Sgt. Steve Miller/Wikimedia Commons

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China Calls For a New International Reserve Currency That Isn’t the Dollar (Again)

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research writes via Business Insider:

The NYT told readers that:

“Beijing has few options other than to continue to purchase United States Treasury bonds, Chinese officials are clearly concerned that China’s substantial holdings of American debt, worth at least $1.1 trillion, is being devalued.”

Both parts of this statement are wrong. Beijing has the option to stop buying dollars from its exporters. The reason that the government accumulates dollars and other foreign currencies is that it buys the currency from the companies who are exporting to the United States and other countries.

If Chinese officials were that concerned about it, they wouldn’t keep selling us their useless crap, thereby continuing the vicious cycle of being forced to “cash out” in Treasurys on the difference. If we as Americans were that concerned about it, we’d stop buying the useless crap. Like the “Presidents of the United States” mugs I bought this weekend, which happened to have “Made in China” stickers slapped on the bottom.

On Saturday, after S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ (pretty sure you guys heard about that), Chinese officials said Washington needed to “cure its addiction to debts” and “live within its means,” harsh words considering our living beyond our means has been the main driver of China’s explosive growth in the last decade. ““The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” read the statement, released by state-run Xinhua news.

“China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets,” it said.

Wrong. The Federal Reserve is the largest creditor of the world’s former superpower (that’s us), and according to them, we can’t inflate fast enough.

“International supervision over the issue of U.S. dollars should be introduced and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country,” Xinhua said.

Notice a pattern here yet? GAAP isn’t good enough, we need the IASB to tell us how to recognize leases. Now the dollar isn’t good enough. Not that it ever was, at least not in my lifetime or yours.

Better learn Chinese, people.

Moss Adams Freshens Up Their Look

It’s spring, which means change is in the air; flowers are blooming, the air is warm, animals are frisky, all that crap. And perhaps because it is such a refreshing time of year, Moss Adams has rolled out a refreshed image, updating their colors, adding a tagl website a new look and feel. The firm officially rolled out its new and improved look today and Moss Adams CEO Rick Anderson was kind enough to speak to us about it.

Going Concern: So why the face lift (or does this simply qualify as Botox injections)? Is it because the firm is getting up in there in age and it’s not feeling as desirable as it once did?

Rick Anderson: As you know, a brand is an intangible asset with economic value that requires management to help it appreciate. The last refresh we did was in 2006-2007 and much has changed since then. The current updates to our colors, our tagline, and our graphic elements represent the energy and thought leadership we put into every relationship and engagement.

GC: The changes appear to be more subtle than, say, another firm that comes to mind – was that a conscious choice? Was anyone involved in the creative process dropping ideas that revolved around Legos or October foliage?

RA: Our creative team presented several options ranging from a small tweak to a full scale rebrand. Because Moss Adams is built on such a solid foundation, we decided that our vision, mission, and values would remain intact. And so would our logo, as we wanted easy recognition of our brand and we wanted to preserve the equity already built. So we are calling our new look and feel a “refresh” instead of a rebrand because it continues to focus on many of our historical strengths.

GC: Okay, sounds like simply “ma” could have been on the table. Moving on… The new tagline is “Acumen. Agility. Answers.” Do these merits have special meaning for MA or did they happen upon someone flipping through the A section of the dictionary?

RA: We created the tagline to reinforce important aspects of our brand that our clients called out in our client satisfaction survey. “Acumen. Agility. Answers.” is a simple, benefit-driven tagline that conveys three important attributes of the service we provide our clients: Acumen – Keen insight we deliver; Agility – Our ability to respond quickly; Answers – Correct and valuable responses to questions and problems.

GC: So the clients are the wordsmiths. Got it. What’s the feedback been so far? Are you expecting excitement at first followed by some sort of Charlie Sheen-esque backlash?

RA: We have been rolling out the new sales and marketing materials for the past few months, initially internally and then externally, and the response is favorable. People like the refreshed look. The new website just launched and focuses more heavily on valuable resources for our visitors. It is a bit early to gauge our metrics on that.

GC: In other words: WINNING! That’s wonderful. What other new and exciting things can we expect to see from MA this year? Office openings? More work-life balance initiatives? A new dancing partner?

RA: We are off to a good start to 2011. Our annual firm leadership meeting is in a few weeks and our focus will continue to be on taking care of our existing clients and personnel while continuing to focus on growth to provide more opportunities for our people and more resources for our clients. We are seeing some positive signs and are looking forward to a good 2011.