Colonial Bank Shouldn’t Make Any Late Summer Plans

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

thumbs down col.gifSo all that fuss over at Colonial Bank? Accounting irregularities, natch. According to Reuters, “Colonial BancGroup Inc (CNB.N) said it faces a criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) related to accounting irregularities at its mortgage lending unit, and the struggling lender warned it may be put under receivership.”
The SEC is also taking a peek at the bank’s participation in TARP. Book cooking for taxpayer funds may have its poster child. Top notch, Colonial. Top notch.
Colonial BancGroup faces criminal probe, FDIC action [Reuters]

Related Posts

BDO ‘Invites’ Partners to Retire in the UK

BDO-small.jpgBDO in the UK has “‘invited’ 24 partners to take retirement and is in the process of settling the details over the withdrawal of equity”, according to Accountancy Age. And by “invited”, we’re pretty sure BDO means, “pack your shit”.
According to Simon Michaels, the head honcho in the UK, the “withdrawal of equity” would not be an “unmanageable situation to deal with” which is sorta like saying “it’ll hurt for a little while but as soon as my ownership is bigger, I’ll be over it.”
This whole sitch across the pond compelled us to call a BDO rep here in the States to find out what might be going down for the American partners. We were told that there were no plans for dismissal of partners in U.S. and in fact, partners will likely to continue to be added to the firm. This jogged our hazy memory about our speculation that BDO was adding some partners last month in order to spread out some liability.
So it appears that since BDO International Global Coordination isn’t on the hook for the half a billion in liability from the Banco Espirito case, they can’t afford to keep all their partners. BDO in States, on the other hand, needs to spread out the love on the liability. Don’t you love it when everything makes sense?
Reality bites for BDO Stoy Hayward [Accountancy Age]

Mr. Comptroller, John Liu, Demands That You Recognize the Seriousness of His Office

john-liu.jpgEveryone runs into a quirky boss at some point in their careers. Whether you’re answering to a higher power like Team Jehovah (just do as I say, or it’s eternal damnation) or just the new partner at your firm that keeps all the keys to the john in his office, people have to make adjustments to keep things on an even keel.
Well here’s a new one: The Post has reported that New York City’s new comptroller, John Liu, has ordered his staff to rise and address him as “Mr. Comptroller” whenever he enters the room.
In addition to the new formalities, The Post also reported that Mr. Comptroller is eliminating casual Fridays and is requiring everyone to arrive for work by 8 am. This is not a country club, people!
What’s the reason for all this, you ask? It’s quite simple actually. Mr. Comptroller is obviously aware the less than prestigious image that accountants (even elected ones) have and he wanted to nip this notion in the bud:

Liu’s new protocols were the brainchild of First Deputy Comptroller Eric Eve, an ex-Citigroup banker and adviser to former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, according to Lee.
“It is important to note John is the same John, and he hasn’t changed,” Lee said. “At the same time, we want to address the office with the seriousness it demands.”

See, it was the ex-banker’s idea? Mr. Comptroller is the same guy, just wants to point out that the Office of the Comptroller is to be taken seriously. Make no mistake, it’s a real elected position. Mr. Comptroller is also ex-PwC so that could have something to do with it. Or not, you can sort that out for yourselves.