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Friday Footnotes: Big 4 Bullying; Auditor Gets Boned; Where My Girls At? | 7.5.19

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
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Ed. note: Friday already? Yay! Here’s what you may have missed from around the Internets. If you’ve got a story to share, give us a shout. Have a wonderful weekend, you little lovelies you.

KPMG’s Head of Deal Advisory steps down amid ‘bullying’ storm [Consultancy.uk] KPMG’s UK Head of Deal Advisory has stepped down to take a leave of absence “in the wider interest of the firm”, following complaints regarding the way he spoke to colleagues. The move comes despite the Big Four firm having found Sanjay Thakkar’s behaviour “did not amount to bullying” during an internal investigation, something which seemingly caused two experienced figures to quit the firm in protest.

Jay-Z’s companies sue New York City licensing company for ‘colossal accounting scandal’ [AP] When Roc Nation entered into a brand partnership with Iconix in 2013, the defendant company was fabricating financial reports to falsely inflate its earnings, according to the suit filed Thursday in state court in Manhattan.

An auditor fucked up by failing to disclose he’d been screwing the guy he audited for 15 years [The Press-Enterprise] Meh, immaterial.

AICPA Survey: Business Executives Say Complex Financial Instruments Continue to Pose Risk [Yahoo] Some 55 percent of those surveyed expressed concern about financial instrument valuations.

Innovation in accounting: Why that’s not an oxymoron [Prairie Business] The one in which Eide Bailly humblebrags about being into computer things and stuff.

Congress approves IRS reform bill, drops Free File language [Journal of Accountancy] President Trump has signed the bill into law as of July 1.

Amazon turned 25 this month, some folks think it’s time they pay their fair share [Guardian] The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has sent a barbed birthday card to Jeff Bezos to mark Amazon’s 25th anniversary, wishing the company “many happy tax returns” and demanding it pays more UK tax, pays its staff better and improves working conditions.

Chicks rule at PwC [Financial Times] You might be impressed by just how many new partners at PwC UK are of the female persuasian.

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New MACPA White Paper Outlines Future CPA Leaders’ Vision For the Industry

Our favorite revolutionaries over at the Maryland Association of CPAs never take a vacation, and for those of you interested in leadership, you might be interested in their latest project. Or at least enjoy the following without making snide comments about overachievers that mask your true feelings of jealousy. Let’s face it, you’re probably not as cool as Tom Hood. It’s fine, just embrace it.


A team of graduates from MACPA’s 2011 Leadership Academy say CPAs must become more global-minded, proactive, future-focused, balanced and tech-savvy to maintain their competitive edge in a complex and constantly-changing world. Getting there, they say, will require a brand new set of skills and characteristics. Among them: Unity and flexibility, the ability to collaborate and crowdsource, a mind shift from history to possibility, and a new tech-focused mindset.

It is likely no coincidence that Gen Yers, as the future leaders of the industry, are hyper-connected, collaborative and far more interested in the “possible” than the “already been done.”

Forty members of the MACPA’s 2011 Leadership Academy used those infamous collaboration skills to shape a new MACPA white paper, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Maryland’s Young CPAs Create a Vision of the Profession’s Future.”

“These young CPAs care deeply about their profession,” said MACPA Executive Director Tom Hood, CPA. “They know we’re facing an increasingly complex and challenging future, and they see each challenge as an opportunity not only to help clients and employers, but to position CPAs as the world’s most trusted business advisor.”

The white paper comes on the heels of the profession’s CPA Horizons 2025 project, which leveraged input from CPAs, regulators, thought leaders and futurists to identify key trends and map what the profession will look like in 2025.

The interesting part about the MACPA’s project is that opinions and visions are a dime a dozen in this industry, but Leadership Academy participants went beyond postulating about the future to map opportunities from a future CPA leader’s point of view complete with action plans, timelines and desired results. This isn’t simply a report on the state of the industry at some point in the future but a report on how young leaders can get us there in the here and now.

“There have been a lot of questions swirling about the next generation of business leaders. Topping the list is, ‘Are they ready to lead?’” said Hood. “Our Leadership Academy provides the answer: Not only are they ready to lead, they’re hungry to lead, and this white paper is their starting point.”

Download the white paper here. To find out more about the Leadership Academy, head here.