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Footnotes: More Mergers You Don’t Care About; The Accountant Never Knows; Mad Pot Money | 08.08.14

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

SEC Charges Bahamas-Based Brokerage Firm and President With Facilitating Fraudulent Scheme by Hedge Fund Manager [SEC]

Accounting firms merge to form Coosa Valley Financial Group More firms you have never heard of merging news [Rome News Tribune]

Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Pay $5.6B Dividends [Banker & Tradesman]

Accountant denies knowing of alleged TelexFree fraud TelexFree Inc.’s American accountant said in a court filing that he did not know the Marlborough company was engaged in an alleged Ponzi scheme “and did not conclude that it was until approximately March,’’ a month before regulators filed fraud charges against it and eight executives. [Boston Globe]

Washington made $1 million in pot taxes in its first month collecting them. That's the state, not the District [The Spokesman-Review]

TSA Inspector Arrested in Craigslist Underage Sex Sting Don't touch my junk! Oh wait, I'm too old anyway [Gawker]

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Your Firm Has Questions. Answer Them Here

E&Y’s global survey has rolled out and we’ve obtained a list of questions that Ersnters are being asked.
After the jump, we’ve presented a partial list for feedback on your respective firm.


Since the standard “Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree” format doesn’t tell the whole story (and are pretty boring), we’re asking you to pick your favorite(s) and give your full answer in the comments.
• I have the time I need to deliver quality work.
• People at the Firm are held accountable for their performance.
• If I had a question or concern about the way we conduct business, I would not hesitate seeking advice or reporting my concerns.
• People I work with inspire others to do great things at the Firm.
• I understand the measures used to evaluate my performance.
• I am rewarded appropriately for the work I do.
• I believe my pay and performance are linked.
• I trust the information I receive from leadership.
• Leadership does a good job of explaining the reasons behind major decisions.
• I rarely think about looking for a new job with another company.
Be honest. Please. If you don’t see your favorite, submit it in the comments along your response.

Latvian Bankers Figure That Your Immortal Soul Will Work as Collateral

Latvian bankers apparently have some super-cosmic powers that have yet to be harnessed by others in the finance industry because they are taking peoples’ souls as collateral.
Call us skeptical but Latvian bankers would be the last members of the banking community to be the recipients of a Mortal Kombat-esque finishing move that would be reaped upon borrowers that turn out to be deadbeats.
If Matt Taibbi is to believed (and why wouldn’t he? He works at Rolling Stone after all), then this practice is obviously something that Goldman Sachs has already considered and Blankfein and Co. have utimately decided that bringing hellish powers to earth will just have to wait.
Would you pledge your soul as loan collateral? [Reuters via FT Alphaville]

Why Haven’t We Heard About Accounting Firms Helping Out Haiti?

Relief efforts.jpgBecause we’ve been looking for some PR and haven’t seen much.
We’ve got no doubt that accounting firms large and small are doing their part to help out the relief efforts there but we’re surprised about the lack of PR. Other than a brief memo (PDF below) from the AICPA that we saw on Twitter this morning, we haven’t seen much of anything.
Our sister site Above the Law has covered the many law firms that have donated to the efforts in Haiti but we haven’t seen anything on accounting firm donations efforts. Even, everyone’s favorite ward of the state, Citi, is helping out in the big way.
Maybe it’s being kept internal but it seems like an opportunity to demonstrate what firms are doing to help.
If your firm has made efforts, or if you’re a PR professional for your firm and you have a press release describing your firm’s efforts let us know and we’ll spread the good word.
AICPA.pdf