As you may know, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has had some issues with its financial reporting. So much so that, about a year ago, the SEC asked to poke around. Ever since then, they company has been a favorite of Sam Antar, who has written a slew of blog posts about their shoddy accounting. After a tough year of criticism, it appears the company seems to have found a solution to their double-entry woes – they didn’t have a Chief Accounting Officer!
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. […], a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, today announced the appointment of Stephen L. Gibbs as its Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer effective immediately. This newly created position has been established to strengthen GMCR’s accounting function and overall financial control environment.
So everything should be on the straight and narrow now. I just hope Mr. Gibbs doesn’t mind being asked awkward questions.
UPDATE: The company is also looking for a Fraud Prevention Manager if you know anyone who is interested.
Last week we checked in with those of you working on 10-Q’s for the second quarter and it sounded like it was pretty quiet.
Large accelerated filers have until 5:30 EST today to get their 10-Q’s submitted. Any last minute meltdowns out there? Anyone going on 48 hours of no sleep to pull this one off? Let us know in the comments or email us at tips@goingconcern.com.
Advertising a professional service company is a challenge for ad agencies. First, the subject is not all that interesting, except maybe to the people who work there, their families, and their clients. And second, the differences from one company to another are minute. What you can say about one CPA or law firm is pretty much the same as another. You can’t advertise a firm as doing something better, the way Tide claims to clean better or Crest to whiten teeth better.
What can marketers do when they can’t make a claim that they are better? Why, write a jingle, like Coke or Pepsi of course. However, professional service companies have to maintain some gravitas. Schmaltz and accountants would be like wearing shorts and flip-flops to a client meeting.
We’re presenting some analysis of two current accounting firm ad campaigns, starting with BDO and tackling Grant Thornton this afternoon.
Analysis and videos, after the jump
The solution is to differentiate yourself not by what you say but through the tone of your advertising. And the tone of the BDO’s advertising is deadly, almost literally. It is dark, and cold, and depressing. And it doesn’t work because it takes itself too seriously. The conversations are artificial, and the situations forced.
In the following commercial, as two executives exit an unidentified intuitional-looking edifice, one person says to the other “Reilly hit the roof” about the need to restate. We never find out who “Reilly” is, but are reassured that “the partners are on it”, suggesting that BDO will not send in the juniors to fix the problem.
This second commercial deals with the switch from GAAP to IFRS. Why is BDO best suited to handling it? According to the commercial because of its global resources and because “it’s complicated.” Oh? Weak, pretty generic, arguments.
The best asset BDO has is it tagline, “People who know, know BDO”. That could have been the idea for a very nice commercial, maybe using real customers, but BDO did not capitalize on it.
Avi Dan is President & CEO of Avidan Strategies, a New York based consultancy specialized in advising professional service companies on marketing and business development. Mr. Dan was previously a board member with two leading advertising agencies and managed another.
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• BofA settles Merrill bonus case with SEC for $33 million – Classic case of not admitting or denying charges, just throwing money at the problem. End of story. [Reuters]
• A.I.G. Appoints a New Chief Executive – The self-loathing is contagious today. [DealBook]
• Antidepressant Use in U.S. Doubled Over Decade to 10% in 2005 – Depressing news. Where the hell is our Prozac? [Bloomberg]