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Grant Thornton Gets Fired (Again)

Grant Thornton is having a helluva time keeping audit clients happy. After getting axed by Overstock.com in November, GT has now been fired by headphone maker Koss after it was discovered — by AMEX — that the company’s former VP of Finance had been embezzling millions of dollars since 2005.

In an 8-K filed yesterday, the Company stated that its financial statements from the past three years should not be relied on:

The Company has now concluded that its previously issued financial statements on Forms 10-K for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2005 through 2009 and on Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2009 should no longer be relied upon due to the unauthorized financial transactions.

A couple of commenters were debating this particular SNAFU over the Holiday break and while GT may not be responsible for discovering embezzlement, this is a perfect example of why small companies should not be exempt from Sarbanes-Oxley. As Guest 2 notes:

it looks like Koss will become the poster child for internal controls. The company clearly had to have deficient internal controls if the VP of Finance could use millions of dollars in company funds to pay her personal credit cards. We’re talking over $400,000 a month on average (if the $20 million figure is accurate) and that amount is clearly material to the company (i.e. that amount should not have gone unnoticed). My guess is that this will force all other small public companies to become full-pledged into 404 like the majority of public companies are.

We’d love to agree with Guest 2 but the simple fact of the matter is that Congress doesn’t give a rat’s ass about small companies complying with SOx. Most of the members have never even heard of Koss, especially since the company has a budget of around $0 for campaign contributions. Right now the only thing keeping the small company exemption at bay is the inability of Congress to move on financial regulatory reform, which is kinda sorta needed.

Headphone maker Koss fires auditor after firing VP [Reuters]

Proof That an Accountant Can Love Golf Too Much

Golf is probably the furthest thing from most of your minds right now because a) it’s somewhere between 0 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside or b) you hate golf. For the latter, you can continue reading in so you may engage in laughing and pointing. For the former, despite it being the offseason in most parts of this fair land, a report from the Manchester Evening News should cause you to temper down your love for a good walk nice spin in a cart spoiled.

A golf fanatic accountant who stole thousands from his employers and then funnelled it into his ailing club has been jailed. David Beech, 59, showed a ‘bizarre misplaced sense of loyalty’, when he siphoned over £70,000 from his bosses into struggling Oldham Golf Club, where he was treasurer.

But Beech, of Holly Grove, Chadderton, was rumbled when a company auditor went through the books. He pleaded guilty straight away and repaid £51,262 of the cash back although £19,300 was still unaccounted for, Sheffield Crown Court heard. At court it also emerged he received an 18-month suspended sentence 23 years ago for stealing from another employer. Defending, Robert Smith said Beech had demonstrated a “bizarre, strange, misplaced sense of loyalty” to the golf club. “It had a negative impact on the club in that they were under a false impression as to their own finances,” he said

Typical reaction of the members: