BDO will not repay £4.5m furlough money despite paying partners £137m [The Guardian] BDO, one of the UK’s leading accountancy firms, is refusing to pay back £4.5m in furlough money it received from taxpayers despite paying its 264 partners an average of £518,000 each. In total the company paid its partners £137m.
Tips for auditing in a COVID-19 environment [Journal of Accountancy] George Botic, director of the PCAOB’s Division of Registrations and Inspections, provided observations on the new environment Wednesday during the AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments. He addressed audit best practices, common and recurring deficiencies identified in PCAOB inspections, reminders related to the pandemic, and other issues.
Deutsche Bank’s top accountant steps aside amid Wirecard investigation [NY Post] Deutsche Bank’s chief accounting officer Andreas Loetscher was forced to temporarily step aside amid a probe into his prior role as a lead auditor into the German payments processor, which collapsed in June after admitting that $2.1 billion of its cash might not exist.
This company allows workers to take a 6-month leave of absence and retain 20% pay—here’s why [CNBC] Let’s save you a click, it’s PwC and it’s so they can take care of their kids.
Deloitte to double India workforce in 2-3 years: Punit Renjen [Hindustan Times] “We have 55,000 individuals who serve the most prominent clients and government in India and the world from India. We have centres in Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Pune that serve the world. Our plan over the next two to three years is to double that workforce. It is partly because of the talent arbitrage opportunity,” he said.
SEC Approves Plan to Bring More Detailed Stock-Market Data to Public [Wall Street Journal] The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a plan to beef up the public data feeds that broadcast stock prices to investors, broadening access to market information that exchanges sell to professional traders at a premium. Under the SEC’s plan, detailed data showing supply and demand for stocks will be added to the public feeds, which are called securities information processors, or SIPs. Wall Street banks and electronic trading firms use such data to predict short-term price moves and ensure that they get good prices when buying or selling stocks.
Why does the SEC whistleblower reward program have so many secrets? [The FCPA Blog] Shouldn’t the media be allowed to interact with whistleblowers, ask them questions? Where do they come from? Are bankers the savviest whistleblowers, or is it the watchful security guard? Are most successful whistleblowers high-paid insiders who can afford the years-long process, hoping for a positive result? Has anyone ever been awarded twice? Three times?
Quality suffers for audit offices that emphasize non-audit services, study shows [Notre Dame News] “The distraction effect of non-audit services on audit quality” is forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting and Economics from Erik Beardsley and Andrew Imdieke, assistant professors of accountancy at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, along with Thomas Omer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Blackstone Group co-founder, chairman and CEO is in Seoul hobnobbing with various other titans of industry, finance and politics for the G-20 Business Summit and as you might expect, things can get a little drab. 