Is it 2015 yet? No? Well then, I guess we should crank out another year in review post before we bust out the champagne or nearest American knockoff.
We present the following for your nostalgic pleasure: our most read posts for 2014.
Compensation
Hands down, the most read posts this year were compensation threads. EY topped the list, followed by PwC, Deloitte, and KPMG in that order. Though they came in a distant 5th traffic-wise, Grant Thornton compensation discussions were lively enough to deserve a mention here.
Boy you people love money, don't you?
The KPMG/Rothstein Kass merger
By far, the biggest non-salary story of the year was the KPMG/Rothstein Kass merger. We were the first to ruin the surprise in February, and as the weeks dragged on, we saw folks leaving Rothstein Kass in droves, watched as RK quietly resigned as auditor due to a "transaction," and waited patiently for the obligatory press release announcing the merger. Finally, in May, it happened. Steve Kass still tried to stick to his guns, insisted that all this came as a surprise to him and he totally meant it when he said the firm wasn't for sale just before he sold the firm. Stay Klassy, Kass.
The EY/Ventas "independence violation"
By "independence violation," we mean there was banging. Not wanting to have to explain to PCAOB inspectors why the Ventas workpapers were stuck to one another, EY got ahead of the knowledge that an audit partner was sleeping with the chief accounting officer at the client and promptly took care of it. She was fired, he was demoted, and EY withdrew its audit opinions for the time in which the two were blissfully engaged in carnal pleasure.
KPMG had the honor of mopping up the mess and all was well at Ventas, proving that while sex ruins everything, it doesn't necessarily ruin the reliability of audit opinions.
And now the AICPA is prepared to take Greg's questions about sex and ethics.
Truth in advertising
We asked out loud: what if accounting firm slogans were honest? Unfortunately, Colin nixed this suggestion in particular, calling it too mean:
Is that too mean to McGladrey, or too mean to Delaware? We may never know.
Shots fired!
Not wanting to be left out from list season, we came up with a list of our own: the 20 most overrated things in accounting. Sure, Ringstrom almost quit when we said Excel was overrated but it was so worth it. #noregrets
Did we miss any of your favorite posts this year? Do let us know.
